
American Big Game 



In its Haunts 



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THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

Founder of the Boone and Crockett Club 



American 
Big Game in Its Haunts 

CJe 25oofe of t^t 25oone anb Crochett €lub 



EDITOR 
GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL 




NEW-YORK 

FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1904 



v2 ^^ 
Co"- ^ 



LIBRARY o* CONfiRKSS 

Two Gcoies Sweived 

MAY .16 1904 

Cooyrl?M ijntrv 
CLASS a- XXc. No. 

8 i ■:) & -} 

COPY B / 



Copyright, 1904, by 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company 



Forest and Stream Press 
NewYork, N. Y.,U.S.A. 






^ 



Contents 

Page 

Theodore Roosevelt 13 

Wilderness Reserves , . 23 

Theodore Roosevelt. 

The Zoology of North American Big Game . 52 
Arthur Erwin Brown. 

Big Game Shooting in Alaska : 

I. Bear Hunting on Kadiak Island ... 99 

II. Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula . 128 

III. My Big Bear of Shuyak 162 

IV. The White Sheep of Kenai Peninsula. . 177 
V. Hunting the Giant Moose 209 

James H. Kidder. 

The Kadiak Bear and his Home 225 

W. Lord Smith. 

The Mountain Sheep and its Range 270 

George Bird Grinnell. 

Preservation of the Wild Animals of North 

America 349 

Henry Fairfield Osborn. 

Distribution of the Moose 374 

Madison Grant. 

3 

• 



Contents 

Page 

The Creating of Game Refuges 391 

Alden Sampson. 

Temiskaming Moose . . . . » 437 

Paul J. Dashiell. 

Two Trophies from India 439 

John H. Prentice. 



Big-Game Refuges 442 

Forest Reserves of North America 455 

Appendix 466 

Forest Reserves as Game Preserves .... 467 
E. W. Nelson. 

Constitution of the Boone and Crockett Club . 485 

Rules of the Committee on Admission . . . 489 

Former Officers of the Boone and Crockett Club 490 

Officers of the Boone and Crockett Club . . . 491 

List of Members 492 



List of Illustrations 

/ 
Theodore Roosevelt Frontispiece 

Facing^ pa?« 

President Roosevelt and Major Pitcher ... 13 '^ 

Tourists and Bears 23 ^ 

"Oom John" 25^ 

Prongbucks 27^ 

Mountain Sheep 29- 

Deer on the Parade Ground 31 

Whiskey Jacks 33 ■ 

Wapiti in Deep Snow 35' 

Old Ephraim 37 

Mountain Sheep at Close Quarters 41 - 

Magpies 431 

A Silhouette of Blacktail 45'' 

Black Bears at Hotel Garbage Heap .... 47 '^ 

Chambermaid and Bear 49 

Cook and Bear 51/ 

Bull Bison 53- 

Trophies from Alaska 99 

Loaded Baidarka — Barabara — Base of Supplies, 

Alaska Peninsula 105 - 

The Hunter and his Home 155^ 

Baidarka 175 

Heads of Ball's Sheep 203 

My Best Head 207,, 

5 



List of Illustrations 

Facing pape 

St. Paul, Kadiak Island 231 

Sunset in English Bay, Kadiak . . . . . . 233 

Sitkalidak Island from Kadiak 251 

A Kadiak Eagle 255 

Bear Paths, Kadiak Island 261 

Bear Paths, Kadiak Island 263 

Merycodus osborni Matthew 349 

Yearling Moose 377 

Maine Moose ; about 1890 379 

Moose Killed 1892, with Unusual Development 

of Brow Antlers 381 

Alaska Moose Head, Showing Unusual Devel- 
opment of Antlers 383 

"Bierstadt" Head, Killed 1880 385 

Probably Largest Known Alaska Moose Head . 387 

Temiskaming Moose 431 

Temiskaming Moose 433 

Temiskaming Moose 435 

Temiskaming Moose 437 

A Kahrigur Tiger 439 

Indian Leopard 441 

The New Buffalo Herd in the Yellowstone Park 443 

A Bit of Sheep Country 447 

Mountain Sheep at Rest 451 

Mule Deer at Fort Yellowstone 455 

Note. — The four last illustrations are from photographs taken by Major 
John Pitcher, Superintendent of the Yellowstone National Park, especially 
for this volume. 

6 



Preface 

Although the Boone and Crockett Club has not 
appeared largely in the public eye during recent 
years, its activities have not ceased. The dis- 
covery of gold in Alaska, and the extraordinary 
rush of population to that northern territory had 
the usual effect on the wild life there, and proved 
very destructive to the natives and to the large 
mammals. A few years ago it became evident 
that the Kadiak bear and certain newly discovered 
forms of wild sheep and caribou were being 
destroyed by wholesale, and were actually threat- 
ened with extermination, and through the efforts 
of the Club, strongly backed by the Biological 
Survey of the Department of Agriculture, a bill 
was passed regulating the taking of Alaska large 
game, and especially the exportation of heads, 
horns, and hides. The bill promises to afford suf- 
ficient protection to some of these rare boreal 



Preface 

forms, though for others It perhaps conies too late. 
The enforcement of the law Is In charge of the 
Treasury Department, and permits for shooting 
and the export of trophies are Issued by the Chief 
of the Biological Survey. 

Although a local affair, yet of Interest to the 
whole country, Is the remarkable success of the 
New York Zoological Park, controlled and man- 
aged by the New York Zoological Society, 
brought Into existence largely through the efforts 
of Madison Grant, the present secretary of the 
Club. The Society has also recently taken over 
the care of the New York Aquarium. The Society 
Is In a most flourishing condition, and through Its 
extensive collections exerts an Important educa- 
tional influence In a field In which popular Interest 
is constantly growing. 

Under the administration of President Roose* 
velt, the good work of national forest preserva- 
tion continues, and the time appears not far dis- 
tant when vast areas of the hitherto uncultivated 
West will prove added sources of wealth to our 
country. 

The Club has for some time given much' 
8 



Preface 

thoughtful attention to the subject of game 
refuges — that Is to say, areas where game shall be 
absolutely free from interference or molestation, 
as it is to-day in the Yellowstone Park — to be 
situated within the forest reserves; and as Is else- 
where shown. It has Investigated a number of the 
forest reserves In order to learn something of their 
suitability for game refuges. It appears certain 
that only by means of such refuges can some forms 
of our large mammals be preserved from extinc- 
tion. The first step to be taken to bring about the 
establishment of these safe breeding grounds Is to 
secure legislation transferring the Bureau of 
Forestry from the Land Office to the Department 
of Agriculture. After this shall have been ac- 
complished, the question of establishing such game 
refuges may properly come before the officials of 
the Government for action. 

Among the notable articles in the present vol- 
ume, one of the most important is Mr. Roosevelt's 
account of his visit to the Yellowstone National 
Park in April, 1903. The Park is an object les- 
son, showing very clearly what complete game pro- 
tection will do to perpetuate species, and Mr. 



Preface 

Roosevelt's account of what may be seen there is 
so convincing that all who read it, and appreciate 
the importance of preserving our large mammals, 
must become advocates of the forest reserve game 
refuge system. 

Quite as interesting, in a different way, is Mr. 
Brown's contribution to the definition and the his- 
tory of our larger North American mammals. To 
characterize these creatures in language "under- 
standed of the people" is not easy, but Mr. Brown 
has made clear the zoological affinities of the 
species, and has pointed out their probable origin. 

This is the fourth of the Boone and Crockett 
Club's books, and the first to be signed by a single 
member of the editorial committee, one name 
which usually appears on the title page having 
been omitted for obvious reasons. The preceding 
volume — Trail and Camp Fire — was published In 
1897. 

George Bird Grinnell. 

New York, April 2, 1904. 



10 



American 
ig Game in Its Haunts 



Theodore Roosevelt 

FOUNDER OF THE BOONE AND CROCKETT CLUB. 

It was at a dinner given to a few friends, who 
were also big-game hunters, at his New York 
house, in December, 1887, that Theodore Roosevelt 
first suggested the formation of the Boone and 
Crockett Club. The association was to be made 
up of men using the rifle in big-game hunting, 
who should meet from time to time to discuss sub- 
jects of interest to hunters. The idea was received 
with enthusiasm, and the purposes and plans of 
the club were outlined at this dinner. 

Mr. Roosevelt was then eight years out of col- 
lege, and had already made a local name for him- 
self. Soon after graduation he had begun to dis- 
play that energy which is now so well known; he 
had entered the political field, and been elected 
member of the New York Legislature, where he 
served from 1882 to 1884. His honesty and 
courage made his term of service one long battle, 
in which he fought with equal zeal the unworthy 
measures championed by his own and the oppos- 
ing political party. In 1886 he had been an un- 

13 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

successful candidate for Mayor of New York, be- 
ing defeated by Abram S. Hewitt. 

Up to the time of the formation of the Boone 
and Crockett Club, the political affairs with which 
Mr. Roosevelt had concerned himself had been 
of local importance, but none the less in the line of 
training for more important work; but his activi- 
ties were soon to have a wider range. 

In 1889 the President of the United States ap- 
pointed him member of the Civil Service Com- 
mission, where he served until 1895. In 1895 ^^ 
was appointed one of the Board of Police Com- 
missioners of New York City, and became Presi- 
dent of the Board, serving here until 1897. In 

1897 he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the 
Navy, and served for about a year, resigning in 

1898 to raise the First United States Volunteer 
Cavalry. The service done by the regiment — 
popularly called Roosevelt's Rough Riders — ^is 
sufficiently well known, and Mr. Roosevelt was 
promoted to a Colonelcy for conspicuous gallantry 
at the battle of Las Guasimas. At the close of 
the war with Spain, Mr. Roosevelt became can- 
didate for Governor of New York. He was 
elected, and served until December 31, 1900. In 
that year he was elected Vice-President of the 
United States on the ticket with Mr. McKinley, 

14 



Theodore Roosevelt 

and on the death of Mr. McKinley, succeeded to 
the Presidential chair. 

Of the Presidents of the United States not a 
few have been sportsmen, and sportsmen of the 
best type. The love of Washington for gun and 
dog, his Interest In fisheries, and especially his 
fondness for horse and hound, In the chase of the 
red fox, have furnished the theme for many a 
writer; and recently Mr. Cleveland and Mr. Har- 
rison have been more or less celebrated In the 
newspapers, Mr. Harrison as a gunner, and Mr. 
Cleveland for his angling, as well as his duck 
shooting proclivities. 

It is not too much to say, however, that the 
chair of the chief magistrate has never been occu- 
pied by a sportsman whose range of Interests was 
so wide, and so actively manifested, as In the case 
of Mr. Roosevelt. It Is true that Mr. Harrison, 
Mr. Cleveland, and Mr. McKInley did much In 
the way of setting aside forest reservations, but 
chiefly from economic motives; because they be- 
lieved that the forests should be preserved, both 
for the timber that they might yield. If wisely ex- 
ploited, and for their value as storage reservoirs 
for the waters of our rivers. 

The view taken by Mr. Roosevelt Is quite dif- 
ferent. To him the economics of the case appeal 

15 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

with the same force that they might have for any 
hard-headed, common sense business American; 
but beyond this, and perhaps, if the secrets of his 
heart were known, more than this, Mr. Roosevelt 
is influenced by a love of nature, which, though 
considered sentimental by some, Is, in fact, noth- 
ing more than a far-sightedness, which looks 
toward the health, happiness, and general well- 
being of the American race for the future. 

As a boy Mr. Roosevelt was fortunate In hav- 
ing a strong love for nature and for outdoor life, 
and, as in the case of so many boys, this love took 
the form of an interest In birds, which found its 
outlet In studying and collecting them. He pub- 
lished, in 1877, a list of the summer birds of the 
Adirondacks, in Franklin county, New York, and 
also did more or less collecting of birds on Long 
Island. The result of all this was the acquiring 
of some knowledge of the birds of eastern North 
America, and, what was far more Important, a 
knowledge of how to observe, and an appreciation 
of the fact that observations, to be of any scientific 
value, must be definite and precise. 

In the many hunting tales that we have had 
from his pen In recent years, It Is seen that these 
two pieces of most Important Instruction acquired 
by the boy have always been remembered, and for 

16 



Theodore Roosevelt 

this reason his books of hunting and adventure 
have a real value — a worth not shared by many 
of those published on similar subjects. His hunt- 
ing adventures have not been mere pleasure excur- 
sions. They have been of service to science. On 
one of his hunts, perhaps his earliest trip after 
white goats, he secured a second specimen of a 
certain tiny shrew, of which, up to that time, only 
the type was known. Much more recently, during 
a declared hunting trip in Colorado, he collected 
the best series of skins of the American panther, 
with the measurements taken in the flesh, that has 
ever been gathered from one locality by a single 
individual. 

Mr. Roosevelt's hunting experiences have been 
so wide as to have covered almost every species of 
North American big game found within the tem- 
perate zone. Except such Arctic forms as the 
white and the Alaska bears, and the muskox, there 
is, perhaps, no species of North American game 
that he has not killed; and his chapter on the 
mountain sheep, in his book, "Ranch Life and the 
Hunting Trail," Is confessedly the best published 
account of that species. 

During the years that Mr. Roosevelt was 
actually engaged in the cattle business in North 
Dakota, his everyday life led him constantly to 

17 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

the haunts of big game, and, almost in spite of 
himself, gave him constant hunting opportunities. 
Besides that, during dull seasons of the year, he 
made trips to more or less distant localities in 
search of the species of big game not found imme- 
diately about his ranch. His mode of hunting and 
of traveling was quite different from that now in 
vogue among big-game hunters. His knowledge 
of the West was early enough to touch upon the 
time when each man was as good as his neighbor, 
and the mere fact that a man was paid wages to 
perform certain acts for you did not in any degree 
lower his position in the world, nor elevate yours. 
In those days, if one started out with a companion, 
hired or otherwise, to go to a certain place, or to 
do a certain piece of work, each man was expected 
to perform his share of the labor. 

This fact Mr. Roosevelt recognized as soon as 
he went West, and, acting upon it, he made for 
himself a position as a man, and not as a master, 
which he has never lost; and it is precisely this 
democratic spirit which to-day makes him perhaps 
the most popular man in the United States at large. 

Starting off, then, on some trip of several hun- 
dred miles, with a companion who might be 
guide, helper, cook, packer, or what not — some- 
times efficient, and the best companion that could 



Theodore Roosevelt 

be desired, at others, perhaps, hopelessly lazy and 
worthless, and even with a stock of liquor cached 
somewhere in the packs — Mr. Roosevelt helped 
to pack the horses, to bring the wood, to carry the 
water, to cook the food, to wrangle the stock, and 
generally to do the work of the camp, or of the 
trail, so long as any of it remained undone. His 
energy was indefatigable, and usually he infected 
his companion with his own enthusiasm and indus- 
try, though at times he might have with him a 
man whom nothing could move. It is largely to 
this energy and this determination that he owes the 
good fortune that has usually attended his hunt- 
ing trips. 

As the years have gone on, fortunes have 
changed; and as duties of one kind and another 
have more and more pressed upon him, Mr. 
Roosevelt has done less and less hunting; yet his 
love for outdoor life is as keen as ever, and as 
Vice-President of the United States, he made his 
well-remembered trip to Colorado after mountain 
lions, while more recently he hunted black bears 
in the Mississippi Valley, and still more lately 
killed a wild boar in the Austin Corbin park in 
New Hampshire. 

Mr. Roosevelt's accession to the Presidential 
chair has been a great thing for good sportsman- 

19 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

ship in this country. Measures pertaining to game 
and forest protection, and matters of sport gener- 
ally, always have had, and always will have, his 
cordial approval and co-operation. He Is heartily in 
favor of the forest reserves, and of the project for 
establishing, within these reserves, game refuges, 
where no hunting whatever shall be permitted. 
Aside from his love for nature, and his wish to 
have certain limited areas remain In their natural 
condition, absolutely untouched by the ax of the 
lumberman, and unimproved by the work of the 
forester, is that broader sentiment in behalf of 
humanity in the United States, which has led him 
to declare that such refuges should be established 
for the benefit of the man of moderate means and 
the poor man, whose opportunities to hunt and to 
see game are few and far between. In a public 
speech he has said, In substance, that the rich and 
the well-to^do could take care of themselves, buy- 
ing land, fencing it, and establishing parks and 
preserves of their own, where they might look 
upon and take pleasure in their own game, but 
that such a course was not within the power of 
the poor man, and that therefore the Government 
might fitly intervene and establish refuges, such as 
Indicated, for the benefit and the pleasure of the 
whole people. 



Theodore Roosevelt 

In April, 1903, the President made a trip to the 
Yellowstone Park, and there had an opportunity 
to see wild game in such a forest refuge, living 
free and without fear of molestation. Long be- 
fore this Mr. Roosevelt had expressed his ap- 
proval of the plan, but his own eyes had never 
before seen precisely the results accomplished by 
such a refuge. In 1903 he was able to contrast 
conditions in the Yellowstone Park with those of 
former years when he had passed through it and 
had hunted on its borders, and what he saw then 
more than ever confirmed his previous conclusions. 

Although politics have taken up a large share of 
Mr. Roosevelt's life, they represent only one of 
his many sides. He has won fame as a historical 
writer by such books as "The Winning of the 
West," "Life of Gouverneur Morris," "Life of 
Thomas Hart Benton," "The Naval War of 
18 1 2," "History of New York," "American 
Ideals and Other Essays," and "Life of Crom- 
well." Besides these, he has written "The Strenu- 
ous Life," and in somewhat lighter vein, his 
"Wilderness Hunter," "Hunting Trips of a 
Ranchman," "Ranch Life and the Hunting 
Trail," and "The Rough Riders" deal with sport, 
phases of nature and life in the wild country. For 
many years he was on the editorial committee of 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

the Boone and Crockett Club, and edited its publi- 
cations, "American Big Game Hunting," "Hunt- 
ing in Many Lands," and "Trail and Camp Fire." 
Mr. Roosevelt was the first president of the 
Boone and Crockett Club, and continues actively 
interested in its work. He was succeeded in the 
presidency of the Club by the late Gen. B. H. 
Bristow. 



22 



Wilderness Reserves 



The practical common sense of the American 
people has been In no way made more evident dur- 
ing the last few years than by the creation and use 
of a series of large land reserves — situated for the 
most part on the great plains and among the moun- 
tains of the West — Intended to keep the forests 
from destruction, and therefore to conserve the 
water supply. These reserves are created purely 
for economic purposes. The seml-arld regions can 
only support a reasonable population under condi- 
tions of the strictest economy and wisdom In the 
use of the water supply, and In addition to their 
other economic uses the forests are Indispensably 
necessary for the preservation of the water supply 
and for rendering possible Its useful distribution 
throughout the proper seasons. In addition, how- 
ever, to the economic use of the wilderness by pre- 
serving It for such purposes where It Is unsulted 
for agricultural uses. It Is wise here and there to 
keep selected portions of It — of course only those 
portions unfit for settlement — In a state of nature, 

23 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

not merely for the sake of preserving the forests 
and the water, but for the sake of preserving all its 
beauties and wonders unspoiled by greedy and 
shortsighted vandalism. These beauties and won- 
ders include animate as well as inanimate objects. 
The wild creatures of the wilderness add to it by 
their presence a charm which it can acquire in no 
other way. On every ground it is well for our 
nation to preserve, not only for the sake of this 
generation, but above all for the sake of those who 
come after us, representatives of the stately and 
beautiful haunters of the wilds which were once 
found throughout our great forests, over the vast 
lonely plains, and on the high mountain ranges, 
but which are now on the point of vanishing save 
where they are protected in natural breeding 
grounds and nurseries. The work of preservation 
must be carried on in such a way as to make it evi- 
dent that we are working In the interest of the peo- 
ple as a whole, not in the interest of any particular 
class; and that the people benefited beyond all 
others are those who dwell nearest to the regions 
in which the reserves are placed. The movement 
for the preservation by the nation of sections of the 
wilderness as national playgrounds is essentially a 
democratic movement in the interest of all our 
people. 

24 



Wilderness Reserves 

On April 8, 1903, John Burroughs and I reached 
the Yellowstone Park and were met by Major 
John Pitcher of the Regular Army, the Superin- 
tendent of the Park. The Major and I forthwith 
took horses; he telling me that he could show me 
a good deal of game while riding up to his house 
at the Mammoth Hot Springs. Hardly had we left 
the little town of Gardiner and gotten within the 
limits of the Park before we saw prong-buck. 
There was a band of at least a hundred feeding 
some distance from the road. We rode leisurely 
toward them. They were tame compared to their 
kindred In unprotected places ; that is, it was easy 
to ride within fair rifle range of them; but they 
were not familiar in the sense that we afterwards 
found the bighorn and the deer to be familiar. 
During the two hours following my entry into the 
Park we rode around the plains and lower slopes 
of the foothills in the neighborhood of the mouth 
of the Gardiner and we saw several hundred — 
probably a thousand all told — of these antelope. 
Major Pitcher informed me that all the prong- 
horns in the Park wintered in this neighborhood. 
Toward the end of April or the first of May they 
migrate back to their summering homes in the open 
valleys along the Yellowstone and in the plains 
south of the Golden Gate. While migrating they 

25 



American Big Game In Its Haunts 

go over the mountains and through forests If occa- 
sion demands. Although there are plenty of 
coyotes In the Park there are no big wolves, and 
save for very infrequent poachers the only enemy 
of the antelope, as Indeed the only enemy of all the 
game, Is the cougar. 

Cougars, known In the Park as elsewhere 
through the West as "mountain lions," are plenti- 
ful, having Increased In numbers of recent years. 
Except In the neighborhood of the Gardiner River, 
that Is within a few miles of Mammoth Hot 
Springs, I found them feeding on elk, which in the 
Park far outnumber all other game put together, 
being so numerous that the ravages of the cougars 
are of no real damage to the herds. But In the 
neighborhood of the Mammoth Hot Springs the 
cougars are noxious because of the antelope, moun- 
tain sheep and deer which they kill ; and the Super- 
intendent has Imported some hounds with which to 
hunt them. These hounds are managed by Buffalo 
Jones, a famous old plainsman, who is now In the 
Park taking care of the buffalo. On this first day 
of my visit to the Park I came across the 
carcasses of a deer and of an antelope which the 
cougars had killed. On the great plains cougars 
rarely get antelope, but here the country Is broken 
so that the big cats can make their stalks under 

26 



Wilderness Reserves 

favorable circumstances. To deer and mountain 
sheep the cougar Is a most dangerous enemy — 
much more so than the wolf. 

The antelope we saw were usually in bands of 
from twenty to one hundred and fifty, and they 
traveled strung out almost in single file, though 
those in the rear would sometimes bunch up. I 
did not try to stalk them, but got as near them as 
I could on horseback. The closest approach I was 
able to make was to within about eighty yards of 
two which were by themselves — I think a doe and 
a last year's fawn. As I was riding up to them, 
although they looked suspiciously at me, one 
actually lay down. When I was passing them at 
about eighty yards distance the big one became 
nervous, gave a sudden jump, and away the two 
went at full speed. 

Why the prong-bucks were so comparatively shy 
I do not know, for right on the ground with them 
we came upon deer, and, in the immediate neigh- 
borhood, mountain sheep, which were absurdly 
tame. The mountain sheep were nineteen in num- 
ber, for the most part does and yearlings with a 
couple of three-year-old rams, but not a single big 
fellow — for the big fellows at this season are off 
by themselves, singly or in little bunches, high up 
in the mountains. The band I saw was tame to a 

27 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

degree matched by but few domestic animals. 
They were feeding on the brink of a steep wash- 
out at the upper edge of one of the benches on the 
mountain side just below where the abrupt slope 
began. They were alongside a little gully with 
sheer walls. I rode my horse to within forty yards 
of them, one of them occasionally looking up and 
at once continuing to feed. Then they moved 
slowly off and leisurely crossed the gully to the 
other side. I dismounted, walked around the head 
of the gully, and moving cautiously, but in plain 
sight, came closer and closer until I was within 
twenty yards, where I sat down on a stone and 
spent certainly twenty minutes looking at them. 
They paid hardly any attention whatever to my 
presence — certainly no more than well-treated do- 
mestic creatures would pay. One of the rams rose 
on his hind legs, leaning his fore-hoofs against a 
little pine tree, and browsed the ends of the bud- 
ding branches. The others grazed on the short 
grass and herbage or lay down and rested — two of 
the yearlings several times playfully butting at one 
another. Now and then one would glance in my 
direction without the slightest sign of fear — ^barely 
even of curiosity. I have no question whatever but 
that with a little patience this particular band 
could be made to feed out of a man's hand. Major 

28 



Wilderness Reserves 

Pitcher intends during the coming winter to feed 
them alfalfa — for game animals of several kinds 
have become so plentiful in the neighborhood of 
the Hot Springs, and the Major has grown so in- 
terested in them, that he wishes to do something 
toward feeding them during the severe winter. 
After I had looked at the sheep to my heart's con- 
tent, I walked back to my horse, my departure 
arousing as little interest as my advent. 

Soon after leaving them we began to come 
across black-tail deer, singly, in twos and threes, 
and in small bunches of a dozen or so. They were 
almost as tame as the mountain sheep, but not 
quite. That is, they always looked alertly at me, 
and though if I stayed still they would graze, they 
kept a watch over my movements and usually 
moved slowly off when I got within less than forty 
yards of them. Up to that distance, whether on 
foot or on horseback, they paid but little heed to 
me, and on several occasions they allowed me to 
come much closer. Like the bighorn, the black- 
tails at this time were grazing, not browsing; but 
I occasionally saw them nibble some willow buds. 
During the winter they had been browsing. As 
we got close to the Hot Springs we came across 
several white-tail in an open, marshy meadow. 
They were not quite as tame as the black-tail, al- 

29 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

though without any difficulty I walked up to 
within fifty yards of them. Handsome though the 
black-tail is, the white-tail is the most beautiful of 
all deer when in motion, because of the springy, 
bounding grace of its trot and canter, and the way 
it carries its head and white flag aloft. 

Before reaching the Mammoth Hot Springs we 
also saw a number of ducks in the little pools and 
on the Gardiner. Some of them were rather shy. 
Others — probably those which, as Major Pitcher 
informed me, had spent the winter there — were as 
tame as barnyard fowls. 

Just before reaching the post the Major took 
me into the big field where Buffalo Jones had some 
Texas and Flat Head Lake buffalo — bulls and 
cows — which he was tending with solicitous care. 
The original stock of buffalo in the Park have now 
been reduced to fifteen or twenty individuals, and 
the intention is to try to mix them with "the score 
of buffalo which have been purchased out of the 
Flat Head Lake and Texas Panhandle herds. The 
buffalo were put within a wire fence, which, when it 
was built, was found to have included both black- 
tail and white-tail deer. A bull elk was also put in 
with them at one time — he having met with some 
accidentwhich made the Major and Buffalo Jones 
bring him in to doctor him. When he recovered 

30 



Wilderness Reserves 

his health he became very cross. Not only would 
he attack men, but also- buffalo, even the old and 
surly master bull, thumping them savagely with his 
antlers if they did anything to which he objected. 
When I reached the post and dismounted at the 
Major's house, I supposed my experiences with 
wild beasts for the day were ended ; but this was 
an error. The quarters of the officers and men and 
the various hotel buildings, stables, residences of the 
civilian officials, etc., almost completely surround 
the big parade ground at the post, near the middle 
of which stands the flag-pole, while the gun used 
for morning and evening salutes is well off to one 
side. There are large gaps between some of the 
buildings, and Major Pitcher informed me that 
throughout the winter he had been leaving alfalfa 
on the parade grounds, and that numbers of black- 
tail deer had been in the habit of visiting it every 
day, sometimes as many as seventy being on the 
parade ground at once. As springtime came on 
the numbers diminished. However, in mid-after- 
noon, while I was writing in my room in Major 
Pitcher's house, on looking out of the window I 
saw five deer on the parade ground. They were 
as tame as so many Aldemey cows, and when I 
walked out I got up to within twenty yards of 
them without any difficulty. It was most amusing 

31 



American Big Game In Its Haunts 

to see them as the time approached for the sunset 
gan to be fired. The notes of the trumpeter at- 
tracted their attention at once. They all looked at 
him eagerly. One then resumed feeding, and paid 
no attention whatever either to the bugle, the gun 
or the flag. The other four, however, watched the 
preparations for firing the gun with an Intent gaze, 
and at the sound of the report gave two or three 
jumps; then Instantly wheeling, looked up at the 
flag as It came down. This they seemed to regard 
as something rather more suspicious than the gun, 
and they remained very much on the alert until the 
ceremony was over. Once It was finished, they re- 
sumed feeding as If nothing had happened. Before 
It was dark they trotted away from the parade 
ground back to the mountains. 

The next day we rode off to the Yellowstone 
River, camping some miles below Cottonwood 
Creek. It was a very pleasant camp. Major 
Pitcher, an old friend, had a first-class pack train, 
so that we were as comfortable as possible, and on 
such a trip there could be no plea^anter or more In- 
teresting companion than John Burroughs — "Oom 
John," as we soon grew to call him. Where our 
tents were pitched the bottom of the valley was 
narrow, the mountains rising steep and cliff-broken 
on either side. There were quite a number of 

32 




^ 



Wilderness Reserves 

black-tail in the valley, which were tame and un- 
suspicious, although not nearly as much so as those 
in the immediate neighborhood of the Mammoth 
Hot Springs. One mid-afternoon three of them 
swam across the river a hundred yards above our 
camp. But the characteristic animals of the region 
were the elk — the wapiti. They were certainly 
more numerous than when I was last through the 
Park twelve years before. 

In the summer the elk spread all over the in- 
terior of the Park. As winter approaches they 
divide, some going north and others south. The 
southern bands, which, at a guess, may possibly in- 
clude ten thousand individuals, winter out of the 
Park, for the most part in Jackson's Hole — 
though of course here and there within the limits 
of the Park a few elk may spend both winter and 
summer in an unusually favorable location. It was 
the members of the northern band that I met. 
During the winter time they are very stationary, 
each band staying within a very few miles of the 
same place, and from their size and the open 
nature of their habitat it is almost as easy to count 
them as if they were cattle. From a spur of Bison 
Peak one day, Major Pitcher, the guide Elwood 
Hofer, John Burroughs and I spent about four 
hours with the glasses counting and estimating the 

33 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

different herds within sight. After most careful 
work and cautious reduction of estimates in each 
case to the minimum the truth would permit, we 
reckoned three thousand head of elk, all lying or 
feeding and all in sight at the same time. An esti- 
mate of some fifteen thousand for the number of 
elk in these northern bands cannot be far wrong. 
These bands do not go out of the Park at all, but 
winter just within Its northern boundary. At the 
time when we saw them, the snow had vanished 
from the bottom of the valleys and the lower 
slopes of the mountains, but grew into continuous 
sheets further up their sides. The elk were for 
the most part found up on the snow slopes, occa- 
sionally singly or in small gangs — more often In 
bands of from fifty to a couple of hundred. The 
larger bulls were highest up the mountains and 
generally In small troops by themselves, although 
occasionally one or two would be found associating 
with a big herd of cows, yearlings, and two-year- 
olds. Many of the bulls had shed their antlers; 
many had not. During the winter the elk had evi- 
dently done much browsing, but at this time they 
were grazing almost exclusively, and seemed by 
preference to seek out the patches of old grass 
which were last left bare by the retreating snow. 
The bands moved about very little, and If one were 

34 



1 






Wilderness Reserves 

seen one day it was generally possible to find it 
within a few hundred yards of the same spot the 
next day, and certainly not more than a mile or 
two off. There were severe frosts at night, and 
occasionally light flurries of snow; but the hardy 
beasts evidently cared nothing for any but heavy 
storms, and seemed to prefer to He In the snow 
rather than upon the open ground. They fed at 
irregular hours throughout the day, just like cat- 
tle; one band might be lying down while another 
was feeding. While traveling they usually went 
almost in single file. Evidently the winter had 
weakened them, and they were not in condition for 
running; for on the one or two occasions when 
I wanted to see them close up I ran right Into them 
on horseback, both on level plains and going up 
hill along the sides of rather steep mountains. 
One band In particular I practically rounded up for 
John Burroughs — finally getting them to stand in 
a huddle while he and I sat on our horses less than 
fifty yards off. After they had run a little distance 
they opened their mouths wide and showed evident 
signs of distress. 

We came across a good many carcasses. Two, 
a bull and a cow, had died from scab. Over half 
the remainder had evidently perished from cold or 
starvation. The others, including a bull, three 

35 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

cows and a score of yearlings, had been killed by 
cougars. In the Park the cougar is at present their 
only animal foe. The cougars were preying on 
nothing but elk in the Yellowstone Valley, and 
kept hanging about the neighborhood of the big 
bands. Evidently they usually selected some out- 
lying yearling, stalked it as it lay or as it fed, and 
seized it by the head and throat. The bull which 
they killed was in a little open valley by himself, 
many miles from any other elk. The cougar which 
killed it, judging from its tracks, was a very large 
male. As the elk were evidently rather too' numer- 
ous for the feed, I do not think the cougars were 
doing any damage. 

Coyotes are plentiful, but the elk evidently have 
no dread of them. One day I crawled up to within 
fifty yards of a band of elk lying down. A coyote 
was walking about among them, and beyond an 
occasional look they paid no heed to him. He did 
not venture to go within fifteen or twenty paces of 
any one of them. In fact, except the cougar, I saw 
but one living thing attempt to molest the elk. 
This was a golden eagle. We saw several of these 
great birds. On one occasion we had ridden out to 
the foot of a great sloping mountain side, dotted 
over with bands and strings of elk amounting in 
the aggregate probably to a thousand head. Most 

36 



Wilderness Reserves 

of the bands were above the snow line — some ap- 
pearing away back toward the ridge crests, and 
looking as small as mice. There was one band 
well below the snow line, and toward this we rode. 
While the elk were not shy or wary, in the sense 
that a hunter would use the words, they were by 
no means as familiar as the deer; and this particu- 
lar band of elk, some twenty or thirty in all, 
watched us with interest as we approached. When 
we were still half a mile off they suddenly started 
to run toward us, evidently frightened by some- 
thing. They ran quartering, and when about four 
hundred yards away we saw that an eagle was 
after them. Soon it swooped, and a yearling in the 
rear, weakly, and probably frightened by the 
swoop, turned a complete somersault, and when it 
recovered its feet, stood still. The great bird fol- 
lowed the rest of the band across a little ridge, be- 
yond which they disappeared. Then it returned, 
soaring high in the heavens, and after two or three 
wide circles, swooped down at the solitary year- 
ling, its legs hanging down. We halted at two 
hundred yards to see the end. But the eagle could 
not quite make up its mind to attack. Twice it 
hovered within a foot or two of the yearling's 
head — again flew off and again returned. Finally 
the yearling trotted off after the rest of the band, 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

and the eagle returned to the upper air. Later we 
found the carcass of a yearling, with two eagles, 
not to mention ravens and magpies, feeding on it; 
but I could not tell whether they had themselves 
killed the yearling or not. 

Here and there in the region where the elk were 
abundant we came upon horses which for some 
reason had been left out through the winter. They 
were much wilder than the elk. Evidently the Yel- 
lowstone Park is a natural nursery and breeding 
ground of the elk, which here, as said above, far 
outnumber all the other game put together. In 
the winter, if they cannot get to open water, they 
cat snow; but in several places where there had 
been springs which kept open all winter, we could 
see by the tracks they had been regularly used by 
bands of elk. The men working at the new road 
along the face of the cliffs beside the Yellowstone 
River near Tower Falls informed me that in Octo- 
ber enormous droves of elk coming from the In- 
terior of the Park and traveling northward to the 
lower lands had crossed the Yellowstone just above 
Tower Falls. Judging by their description the elk 
had crossed by thousands in an uninterrupted 
stream, the passage taking many hours. In fact 
nowadays these Yellowstone elk are, with the ex- 
ception of the Arctic caribou, the only American 

38 



Wilderness Reserves 

game which at times travel in immense droves like 
the buffalo of the old days. 

A couple of days after leaving Cottonwood 
Creek — where we had spent several days — we 
camped at the Yellowstone Caiion below Tower 
Falls. Here we saw a second band of mountain 
sheep, numbering only eight — none of them old 
rams. We were camped on the west side of the 
canon; the sheep had their abode on the opposite 
side, where they had spent the winter. It has re- 
cently been customary among some authorities, 
especially the English hunters and naturalists who 
have written of the Asiatic sheep, to speak as if 
sheep were naturally creatures of the plains rather 
than mountain climbers. I know nothing of old 
world sheep, but the Rocky Mountain bighorn is 
to the full as characteristic a mountain animal, in 
every sense of the word, as the chamois, and, I 
think, as the ibex. These sheep were well known 
to the road builders, who had spent the winter in 
the locality. They told me they never went back 
on the plains, but throughout the winter had spent 
their days and nights on the top of the cliff and 
along its face. This cliff was an alternation of 
sheer precipices and very steep inclines. When 
coated with ice it would be difficult to imagine an 
uglier bit of climbing; but throughout the winter, 

39 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

and even in the wildest storms, the sheep had 
habitually gone down it to drink at the water be- 
low. When we first saw them they were lying sun- 
ning themselves on the edge of the canon, where 
the rolling grassy country behind it broke off into 
the sheer descent. It was mid-afternoon and they 
were under some pines. After a while they got up 
and began tO' graze, and soon hopped unconcern- 
edly down the side of the cliff until they were half 
way to the bottom. They then grazed along the 
sides, and spent some time licking at a place where 
there was evidently a mineral deposit. Before 
dark they all lay down again on a steeply inclined 
jutting spur midway between the top and bottom 
of the cafion. 

Next morning I thought I would like to see 
them close up, so I walked down three or four 
miles below where the caiion ended, crossed the 
stream, and came up the other side until I got on 
what was literally the stamping ground of the 
sheep. Their tracks showed that they had spent 
their time for many weeks, and probably for all the 
winter, within a very narrow radius. For perhaps 
a mile and a half, or two miles at the very outside, 
they had wandered to and fro on the summit of 
the cafion, making what was almost a well-beaten 
path ; always very near and usually on the edge of 

40 



Wilderness Reserves 

the cliff, and hardly ever going more than a few 
yards back into the grassy plaln-and-hill country. 
Their tracks and dung covered the ground. They 
had also evidently descended into the depths of 
the cafion wherever there was the slightest break 
or even lowering in the upper line of basalt cliffs. 
Although mountain sheep often browse In winter, 
I saw but few traces of browsing here ; probably on 
the sheer cliff side they always got some grazing. 
When I spied the band they were lying not far 
from the spot in which they had lain the day be- 
fore, and in the same position on the brink of the 
caiion. They saw me and watched me with In- 
terest when I was two hundred yards off, but they 
let me get up within forty yards and sit down on 
a large stone to look at them, without running off. 
Most of them were lying down, but a couple were 
feeding steadily throughout the time I watched 
them. Suddenly one took the alarm and dashed 
straight over the cliff, the others all following at 
once. I ran after them to the edge In time to see 
the last yearling drop off the edge of the basalt cliff 
and stop short on the sheer slope below, while the 
stones dislodged by his hoofs rattled down the 
canon. They all looked up at me with great In- 
terest and then strolled off to the edge of a jutting 
spur and lay down almost directly underneath me 

41 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

and some fifty yards off. That evening on my re- 
turn to camp we watched the band make Its way 
right down to- the river bed, going over places 
where it did not seem possible a four-footed crea- 
ture could pass. They halted to graze here and 
there, and down the worst places they went very 
fast with great bounds. It was a marvelous ex- 
hibition of climbing. 

After we had finished this horseback trip wc 
went on sleds and skis to the upper Geyser Basin 
and the Falls of the Yellowstone. Although It 
was the third week in April, the snow was still 
several feet deep, and only thoroughly trained 
snow horses could have taken the sleighs along, 
while around the Yellowstone Falls It was possible 
to move only on snowshoes. There was very lit- 
tle life in those woods. We saw an occasional 
squirrel, rabbit or marten; and In the open 
meadows around the hot waters there were geese 
and ducks, and now and then a coyote. Around 
camp Clark's crows and Stellar's jays, and occa- 
sionally magpies came to pick at the refuse ; and of 
course they were accompanied by the whiskey 
jacks with their usual astounding familiarity. At 
Norris Geyser Basin there was a perfect chorus of 
bird music from robins, purple finches, juncos and 
mountain bluebirds. In the woods there were 

42 



^ . ^ . , 




^ ^ A 



Wilderness Reserves 

mountain chickadees and nuthatches of various 
kinds, together with an occasional woodpecker. In 
the northern country we had come across a very 
few blue grouse and ruffed grouse, both as tame as 
possible. We had seen a pigmy owl no larger than 
a robin sitting on top of a pine in broad daylight, 
and uttering at short intervals a queer un-owUike 
cry. 

The birds that interested us most were the 
solitaires, and especially the dippers or water- 
ousels. We were fortunate enough to hear the 
solitaires sing not only when perched on trees, but 
on the wing, soaring over a great canon. The 
dippers are to my mind well-nigh the most at- 
tractive of all our birds. They stay through the 
winter in the Yellowstone because the waters are 
In many places open. We heard them singing 
cheerfully, their ringing melody having a certain 
suggestion of the winter wren's. Usually they 
sang while perched on some rock on the edge or in 
the middle of the stream; but sometimes on the 
wing. In the open places the western meadow 
larks were also uttering their singular beautiful 
songs. No bird escaped John Burroughs' eye; no 
bird note escaped his ear. 

On the last day of my stay it was arranged that 
I should ride down from Mammoth Hot Springs to 

43 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

the town of Gardiner, just outside the Park limits, 
and there make an address at the laying of the 
corner stone of the arch by which the main road 
is to enter the Park. Some three thousand people 
had gathered to attend the ceremonies. A little 
over a mile from Gardiner we came down out of 
the hills to the flat plain ; from the hills we could 
see the crowd gathered around the arch waiting 
for me to come. We put spurs to our horses and 
cantered rapidly toward the appointed place, and 
on the way we passed within forty yards of a score 
of black-tails, which merely moved to one side and 
looked at us, and within a hundred yards of half a 
dozen antelope. To any lover of nature it could 
not help being a delightful thing to see the wild 
and timid creatures of the wilderness rendered so 
tame; and their tameness In the immediate neigh- 
borhood of Gardiner, on the very edge of the 
Park, spoke volumes for the patriotic good sense 
of the citizens of Montana. Major Pitcher In- 
formed me that both the Montana and Wyoming 
people were co-operating with him In zealous 
fashion to preserve the game and put a stop to 
poaching. For their attitude In this regard they 
deserve the cordial thanks of all Americans Inter- 
ested In these great popular playgrounds, where bits 
of the old wilderness scenery and the old wllder- 

44 



Wilderness Reserves 

ness life are to be kept unspoiled for the benefit 
of our children's children. Eastern people, and 
especially eastern sportsmen, need to keep steadily 
in mind the fact that the westerners who live in 
the neighborhood of the forest preserves are the 
men who in the last resort will determine whether 
or not these preserves are to be permanent. They 
cannot in the long run be kept as forest and game 
reservations unless the settlers roundabout believe 
in them and heartily support them ; and the rights 
of these settlers must be carefully safeguarded, and 
they must be shown that the movement is really 
in their interest. The eastern sportsman who fails 
to recognize these facts can do little but harm by 
advocacy of forest reserves. 

It was in the interior of the Park, at the hotels 
beside the lake, the falls, and the various geyser 
basins, that we would have seen the bears had the 
season been late enough; but unfortunately the 
bears were still for the most part hibernating. We 
saw two or three tracks, and found one place where 
a bear had been feeding on a dead elk, but the ani- 
mals themselves had not yet begun to come about 
the hotels. Nor were the hotels open. No visi- 
tors had previously entered the Park in the winter 
or early spring — the scouts and other employes be- 
ing the only ones who occasionally traverse it. I 

45 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

was sorry not to see the bears, for the effect of pro- 
tection upon bear life in the Yellowstone has been 
one of the phenomena of natural history. Not 
only have they grown to realize that they are safe, 
but, being natural scavengers and foul feeders, 
they have come to recognize the garbage heaps of 
the hotels as their special sources of food supply. 
Throughout the summer months they come to all 
the hotels in numbers, usually appearing in the late 
afternoon or evening, and they have become as in- 
different to the presence of men as the deer them- 
selves — some of them very much more indifferent. 
They have now taken their place among the recog- 
nized sights of the Park, and the tourists are 
nearly as much interested in them as in the geysers. 
It was amusing to read the proclamations ad- 
dressed to the tourists by the Park management, in 
which they were solemnly warned that the bears 
were really wild animals, and that they must on no 
account be either fed or teased. It is curious to 
think that the descendants of the great grizzlies 
which were the dread of the early explorers and 
hunters should now be semi-domesticated creatures, 
boldly hanging around crowded hotels for the sake 
of what they can pick up, and quite harmless so 
long as any reasonable precaution Is exercised. 
They are much safer, for instance, than any or- 

46 



Wilderness Reserves 

dinary bull or stallion, or even ram, and, in fact, 
there is no danger from them at all unless they arc 
encouraged to grow too familiar or arc in some 
way molested. Of course among the thousands 
of tourists there is a percentage of thoughtless and 
foolish people ; and when such people go out in the 
afternoon to look at the bears feeding they occa- 
sionally bring themselves into jeopardy by some 
senseless act. The black bears and the cubs of the 
bigger bears can readily be driven up trees, and 
some of the tourists occasionally do this. Most of 
the animals never think of resenting it; but now 
and then one Is run across which has its feelings 
ruffled by the performance. In the summer of 
1902 the result proved disastrous to a too Inquisi- 
tive tourist. He was traveling with his wife, and 
at one of the hotels they went out toward the 
garbage pile to see the bears feeding. The only 
bear in sight was a large she, which, as It turned 
out, was in a bad temper because another party of 
tourists a few minutes before had been chasing her 
cubs up a tree. The man left his wife and walked 
toward the bear to see how close he could get. 
When he was some distance off she charged him, 
whereupon he bolted back toward his wife. The 
bear overtook him, knocked him down and bit 
him severely. But the man's wife, without heslta- 

47 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

tion, attacked the bear with that thoroughly femi- 
nine weapon, an umbrella, and frightened her off. 
The man spent several weeks in the Park hospital 
before he recovered. Perhaps the following tele- 
gram sent by the manager of the Lake Hotel to 
Major Pitcher illustrates with sufficient clearness 
the mutual relations of the bears, the tourists, and 
the guardians of the public weal in the Park. The 
original was sent me by Major Pitcher. It runs: 

"Lake. 7-27-'o3. Major Pitcher, Yellow- 
stone : As many as seventeen bears in an evening 
appear on my garbage dump. To-night eight or 
ten. Campers and people not of my hotel throw 
things at them to make them run away. I cannot, 
unless there personally, control this. Do you think 
you could detail a trooper to be there every even- 
ing from say six o'clock until dark and make 
people remain behind danger line laid out by War- 
den Jones? Otherwise I fear some accident. The 
arrest of one or two of these campers might help. 
My own guests do pretty well as they are told. 
James Barton Key. 9 A. M." 

Major Pitcher issued the order as requested. 

At times the bears get so bold that they take to 
making inroads on the kitchen. One completely 
terrorized a Chinese cook. It would drive him off 




CHAMBERMAID AND BEAR. 



Wilderness Reserves 

and then feast upon whatever was left behind. 
When a bear begins to act in this way or to show 
surliness it is sometimes necessary to shoot it. 
Other bears are tamed until they will feed out of 
the hand, and will come at once if called. Not 
only have some of the soldiers and scouts tamed 
bears In this fashion, but occasionally a chamber- 
maid or waiter girl at one of the hotels has thus 
developed a bear as a pet. 

The accompanying photographs not only show 
bears very close up, with men standing by within 
a few yards of them, but they also show one bear 
being fed from the piazza by a cook, and another 
standing beside a particular friend, a chambermaid 
in one of the hotels. In these photographs it will 
be seen that some are grizzlies and some black 
bears. 

This whole episode of bear life in the Yellow 
stone is so extraordinary that it will be well worth 
while for any man who has the right powers and 
enough time, to make a complete study of the life 
and history of the Yellowstone bears. Indeed, noth- 
ing better could be done by some one of our out- 
door faunal naturalists than to spend at least a 
year in the Yellowstone, and to study the life habits 
of all the wild creatures therein. A man able tO' do 
this, and to write down accurately and Interest- 

49 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

ingly what he had seen, would make a contribution 
of permanent value to our nature literature. 

In May, after leaving the Yellowstone, I visited 
the Grand Caiion of the Colorado, and spent three 
days camping in the Yosemite Park with John 
Muir. It is hard to make comparisons among 
different kinds of scenery, all of them very grand 
and very beautiful ; yet personally to me the Grand 
Canon of the Colorado, strange and desolate, ter- 
rible and awful in its sublimity, stands alone and 
unequaled. I very earnestly wish that Congress 
would make it a national park, and I am sure that 
such course would meet the approbation of the 
people of Arizona. As to the Yosemite Valley, if 
the people of California desire it, as many of them 
certainly do, it also should be taken by the 
National Government to be kept as a national 
park, just as the surrounding country, including 
some of the groves of giant trees, is now kept. 

John Muir and I, with two packers and three 
pack mules, spent a delightful three days in the 
Yosemite. The first night was clear, and we lay 
in the open on beds of soft fir boughs among the 
giant sequoias. It was like lying in a great and 
solemn cathedral, far vaster and more beautiful 
than any built by hand of man. Just at nightfall 
I heard, among other birds, thrushes which I think 

50 



Wilderness Reserves 

were Rocky Mountain hermits — the appropriate 
choir for such a place of worship. Next day wc 
went by trail through the woods, seeing some deer 
— which were not wild — as well as mountain quail 
and blue grouse. In the afternoon we struck 
snow, and had considerable difficulty in breaking 
our own trails. A snow storm came on toward 
evening, but we kept warm and comfortable in a 
grove of the splendid silver firs — rightly named 
magnificent, near the brink of the wonderful 
Yosemite Valley. Next day we clambered down 
into it and at nightfall camped in its bottom, 
facing the giant cliffs over which the waterfalls 
thundered. 

Surely our people do not understand even yet 
the rich heritage that Is theirs. There can be noth- 
ing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, 
its groves of giant sequoias and redwoods, the 
Caiion of the Colorado, the Caiion of the Yel- 
lowstone, the three Tetons; and the representa- 
tives of the people should see to it that they are 
preserved for the people forever, ^ with their 
majestic beauty all unmarred. 

Theodore Roosevelt. 



SI 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

Among the many questions asked of the natur- 
alist by an inquiring public, few come up more per- 
sistently than "What is the difference between a 
bison and a buffalo; and which is the American 
animal?" 

The interest which so many people find m ques- 
tions such as this must serve as a justification for 
the present paper, which proposes no more than 
to put into concise form what is known of the 
zoological relations of the animals which come 
within the special interest of the Boone and 
Crockett Club. In doing this, conclusions must, 
as a rule, be stated with few of the facts upon 
which they rest, for to give more than the plainest 
of these would be to far outrun the possible limits 
of space, and would furthermore lead into techni- 
cal details which to most readers are obscure and 
wearisome. 

Anyone who consults Dr. Johnson's famous dic- 
tionary will be illuminated by the definition of 
camelopard : "An Abyssinian animal taller than an 

52 




BULL BISON. 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

elephant, but not so thick," and even but a few 
years back all that was considered necessary to 
answer the question, "what is a bison ?" was to state 
that it is a wild ox with a shaggy mane and a hump 
on its shoulders, and the thing was done; but In 
our own time a satisfactory answer must take ac- 
count of its relationship to other beasts, for we 
have come to believe that the differences between 
animals are simply the blank spaces upon the chart 
of universal life, against which are traced the re- 
semblances, which, as we follow them back Into 
remote periods of geologic time, reveal to us 
definite lines of succession with structural change, 
and these, correctly Interpreted, are nothing less 
than actual lines of blood relationship. To know 
what an animal is, therefore, we must know some- 
thing of its family tree. 

It is perhaps well to emphasize the need of cor- 
rect Interpretation, for there are no bridges on the 
paths of palaeontology, and as we go back, more 
than one great gap occurs between series of strata, 
marking periods of intervening time which there Is 
no means of measuring, but during which we know 
that the progress of change In the animals then 
living never ceased. When such a break Is 
reached, the course of phylogeny Is like picking 
up an Interrupted trail, with the additional compli- 

53 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

cation that the one we find is never quite like the 
one we left, and it is in such conditions that the 
systematist must apply his knowledge of the gen- 
eral progressive tendencies through the ages of 
change, to the determination of the particular 
changes he should expect to find in the special case 
before him, and so be enabled to recognize the 
footprints he is in search of. The genius to do 
this has been given to few, but in their hands the 
results have often been brilliant. 

Back in the very earliest Tertiary deposits, and 
in all certainty even earlier, a group of compara- 
tively small mammals was extensively spread 
through America, and apparently less widely In 
Europe, characterized by a primitive form of foot 
structure, each of which had five complete digits, 
the whole sole being placed upon the ground, as in 
the animals we call plantigrade. The grinding sur- 
faces of their molar teeth were also primitive, bear- 
ing none of the complicated, curved crests and 
ridges possessed by present ruminants, but instead 
they had conical cusps, usually not more than 
three to a tooth; this tritubercular style of 
molar crown being about the earliest known in true 
mammals. 

In the opinion of many palaeontologists, the an- 
cestors of the present hoofed beasts, or ungulates, 

54 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

were contained among these Condylarthra, as they 
were named by Prof. Cope. 

Of course, these early mammals are known to us 
only by their fossil and mostly fragmentary skele- 
tons, but It may be said that at least in the ungulate 
line, the successive geological periods show steady 
structural progression in certain directions. Of 
great Importance are a decrease in the number of 
functional digits; a gradual elevation of the heel, 
so that their modern descendants walk on the tips 
of their toes. Instead of on the whole sole; a con- 
stant tendency to the development of deeply 
grooved and interlocked joints In place of shallow 
bearing surfaces ; and to a complex pattern of the 
molar crowns instead of the simple type men- 
tioned. To this may be added as the most Im- 
portant factor of all In survival, that these changes 
have progressed together with an Increase in the 
size of the brain and In the convolutions of its 
outer layer. 

The Condylarthra seem to have gone out of ex- 
istence before the time of the middle Eocene, but 
before this they had become separated into the two 
great divisions of odd-toed and even-toed ungu- 
lates, into which all truly hoofed beasts now living 
fall. 

The first group {Perissodactyla) has always one 

55 



American Big Game In its Haunts 

or three toes functionally developed, either the 
third, or third, second and fourth, the two others 
having entirely disappeared, except for a remnant 
of the fifth In the forefoot of tapirs. They have 
retained some at least of the upper Incisor teeth, 
and, except in some rhinoceroses, the canines are 
also left; the molars and premolars arc practically 
alike in all recent species, and In all of which we 
know the soft parts, the stomach has but one com- 
partment, and there Is an enormous caecum. It Is 
probable that they took rise earlier than their split- 
footed relations, and their Tertiary remains are 
far more numerous, but their tendency is toward 
disappearance, and among existing mammals they 
are represented only by horses, asses, rhinoceroses, 
and tapirs. 

Contrasted with these, Artiodactyla have always 
an even number of functional digits, the third and 
fourth reaching the ground symmetrically, bearing 
the weight and forming the "split hoof;" the 
second and fifth remain. In most cases, as mere 
vestiges, showing externally as the accessory hoofs 
or dewclaws; in the hippopotamus alone they arc 
fully developed and the animal has a four-toed 
foot. In deer and bovine animals the Incisors and 
frequently the canines have disappeared from the 
upper jaw, and the molars are unlike the premo- 

S6 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

lars in having two lobes instead of one. The 
stomach is always more or less complex ; at its ex- 
treme reaching the ruminant type with four com- 
partments, in association with which is a caecum 
reduced in size and simple in form. Nearly all 
have horns or antlers, at least in one sex. 

Most split-hoofed animals are ruminants, but 
there is a small remnant, probably of early types, 
which are not. The present ungulates may be 
summed up in this way : 

Odd-toed : (Perissodactyla)— Horse, Ass, 

Rhinoceros, 
Tapir. 

Even-toed : (Artiodactyla)— 

Non-ruminants— Hippopotamus, 

Swine, 
Peccaries. 

Ruminants— Camels, Llamas, 

Chevrotains, 
Giraffe, 
Antelopes, 
Sheep, Goats, 
Musk-ox, 
Oxen. 
Deer. 

The non-ruminant artiodactyls need not detain 
us long. Hippopotamuses are little more than 
large pigs with four toes; they were never Ameri- 
can, though many species, some very small, are 

57 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

found in the European Tertiary. The two exist- 
ing species are African. 

In the western hemisphere swine are represented 
by the peccaries, differing from them chiefly in 
having six less teeth, one less accessory toe on the 
hind foot, and in a stomach of more complex char- 
acter. Peccaries also have the metapodial bone« 
supporting the two functional digits fused together 
at their upper ends, forming an imperfect "cannon 
bone," which is a characteristic of practically all 
the ruminants, but of no other hoofed beasts. 
One species only enters the United States along the 
Mexican border. 

All non-ruminant ungulates have from four to 
six incisors in the upper jaw; the canines are 
present, and sometimes, as in the wart hogs, reach 
an extraordinary size. 

Coming now to the ruminants, all digits except 
the third and fourth have disappeared from camels 
and llamas, and the nails on these are limited to 
their upper surface without forming a hoof, the 
under side being a broad pad, upon which they 
tread. No camel-like beasts have inhabited North 
America since the Pliocene age. Chevrotains, or 
muis deer ( Tragidid^) , are not deer in any true 
sense, as they have but three compartments to the 
stomach ; antlers are absent and in their place large 

S8 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

and protruding canine teeth are developed in the 
upper jaw, and the lateral metacarpal bones are 
complete throughout their length, instead of being 
represented by a mere remnant. They are the 
smallest of ungulates, and inhabit only portions of 
the Indo-Malayan region. Camels also have upper 
canines, and the outer, upper incisors as well. 

The giraffe is separated from all living ungu- 
lates by the primitive character of its so-called 
"horns," which are not horns in the usual sense, 
but simply bony prominences of the skull covered 
with hair. Some of the earliest deer-like animals 
seem to have had simple or slightly branched 
antlers which were not shed, and which there is 
reason to believe were also hairy, and in these, as 
well as in other characters, giraffes and the early 
deer may not have been far apart. The "okapi," 
Sir Harry Johnston's late discovery in the 
Uganda forests, seems to have come from the same 
ancestral stock, but the giraffe has no other exist- 
ing relatives. 

The true deer, to which we shall return, arc 
readily enough distinguished from the ox tribe and 
its allies by their solid and more or less branched 
antlers, usually confined to males, and periodically 
shed. 

So, through this rapid survey, we have dropped 
59 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

out of the hoofed beasts all but the bovines and 
their near allies, and are thus far advanced toward 
our definition of a bison, but from this point we 
shall not find it easy to draw sharp distinctions, 
for while the Bovid^e, as a whole, are well enough 
distinguished from all other animals, their charac- 
teristics are so much mixed among themselves that 
It Is hardly possible to find any one or more strik- 
ing features peculiar to one group, and for most of 
them recourse must be had to associations of a 
number of lesser characters. 

Oxen, antelopes, sheep and goats agree in hav- 
ing hollow horns of material similar to that of 
which hair and nails are formed, permanently fixed 
upon the skull in all but one species ; none of them 
have more than the two middle digits functionally 
developed, one on each side of the axis of the leg; 
none have the lower ends remaining of the meta- 
podlal bones belonging to the two accessory digits; 
and none have either incisor or canine teeth In the 
upper jaw. 

From animals so constructed we may first take 
out goats and sheep, in which the female horns are 
much smaller than those of males, and in some 
species are even absent. In nearly all of them the 
horns are noticeably compressed In section, either 
triangular of sub-triangular near the base, and are 

60 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

directed sometimes outwardly from the head with 
a circular sweep ; at others with a backward curve, 
often spirally. The muzzle is always hairy; there 
is no small accessory column on the inner side of 
the upper molars, found always in oxen and in 
some antelopes ; the tail is short, and scent glands 
are present between the digits of some or all the 
feet. 

Now, as to the perplexing animals popularly 
known as antelopes. No definition could be framed 
which would include them all in one group, for 
every subordinate character seems to be present in 
some and absent in others, so that the most that 
can be done with this vast assemblage is to arrange 
Its contents in series of genera, which may or may 
not be called sub-families, but which probably 
correspond in some degree to their real affinities. 
We can only say of any one of them that it is an 
antelope because it is not a sheep, nor a goat, nor 
an ox. They concern us here only to be eliminated, 
for they are not American, our prong-buck having 
a sub-family all to itself, as we shall see later, and 
the so-called "white goat" being usually regarded 
as neither goat nor truly antelope. 

Within the limits of the real bovine animals, four 
quite distinct types may be made out, chiefly by the 
position of the horns upon the skull and by the 

6i 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

shape of the horns themselves. There arc also 
differences in the relations of the nasal and premax- 
illary bones, the development of the neural spines 
of the vertebrae, and the hairy covering of the 
body. 

In the genus Bos the horns are placed high up 
on the vertex of the skull, which forms a marked 
transverse ridge from which the hinder portion 
falls sharply away. The horns are nearly circular 
in section and almost smooth* usually they curve 
outward, then upward and often inward at the tip ; 
the premaxillaries are long and generally reach to 
the nasals, and the anterior dorsal vertebras are 
without sharply elongated spines, so that the line 
of the back is nearly straight. These, the true 
oxen, as they are sometimes termed, now exist only 
in domesticated breeds of cattle. 

In the gaur oxen (Bibos) the horns are situated 
as in Bos, high up on the vertex, but are more ellip- 
tical in section; the premaxillaries are short; the 
dorsal vertebrae, from the third to the eleventh, 
bear elongated spines which produce a hump reach- 
ing nearly to the middle of the back; the tail is 
shorter, and the hair is short all over the body. 
The three species — gaur, gayal and banteng — in- 
habit Indo-Malayan countries, and all of them are 
dark brown with white stockings. 

62 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

The buffaloes (Bubalus) arc large and clumsy 
animals with horns more or less compressed or flat- 
tened at their bases, set low down on the vertex, 
which does not show the high transverse ridge of 
true oxen and gaurs. In old bulls of the African 
species the horns meet at their base and completely 
cover the forehead. In the ami of India they arc 
enormously long. The dorsal spines are not much 
elongated, and there is no distinct hump ; the pre- 
maxilla; are long enough to reach the nasals. Hair 
is scanty all over the body, and old animals are 
almost wholly bare. The small and interesting 
anoa of Celebes, and the tamarao of Mindoro, are 
nearly related in all important respects to the 
Indian buffalo, and the carabao, used for draught 
and burden in the Philippines, belongs to a long 
domesticated race of the same animal. 

Finally, in the genus Bison the horns are below 
the vertex as in buffaloes, but are set far apart at 
the base, which is cylindrical; they are short and 
their curve is forward, upward and inward; the 
anterior dorsal and the last cervical vertebrae have 
long spines which bear a distinct hump on the 
shoulders; the premaxillae are short and never 
reach the nasals; there are fourteen, or occasion- 
ally fifteen, pairs of ribs, all other oxen having but 
thirteen, and there is a heavy mane about the neck 

63 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

iand shoulders. The yak of central Asia is very 
bison-like in some respects, but in others departs in 
the direction of oxen. 

So at last, group by group, wc have gone 
through the ungulates, and the bisons alone are 
left, and as the American animal has short, in- 
curved horns, set low down on the skull and far 
apart at the base; premaxillaries falling short of 
the nasals ; the last cervical and the anterior dorsal 
vertebras with spines ; fourteen pairs of ribs, and a 
mane covering the shoulders, we conclude that it is 
a bison, and as the same characteristics with minor 
variations are shown by the European species, 
often, but wrongly, called "aurochs," we say that 
these two alone of existing Bovidce are bisons, 
with the yak as a somewhat questionable relative. 

In all essential respects the two bisons are very 
similar, but minute comparison shows that the 
European species, Bison bonasus, has a wider and 
flatter forehead, bearing longer and more slender 
horns, and all the other distinctive features are less 
pronounced. In the American species, Bison bison, 
the pelvis is less elevated, producing the character- 
istic slope of the hindquarters. It Is a coincidence 
that the two regions originally inhabited by the 
bisons are those In which the white races of men 
have to the greatest extent thrown their restless 

64 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

energies into the struggle for existence, with the re- 
sult that extinction to nearly the same degree has 
overtaken these two near cousins among oxen. A 
few wild members of the European species still 
exist in the Caucasus, as a few of the American are 
left in British America^ but elsewhere both exist 
only under protection. 

The carefully kept statistics of the Bielowitza 
herd in Grodno, western Russia, which includes 
nearly all but the few wild ones, shows that between 
1833 and 1857 they increased in number from 
768 to 1,898, but from this maximum the decrease 
has been constant, with trifling halts, until in 1892 
less than five hundred were left; so that even ii 
the Peace River bison are counted with the rem- 
nant of the American species, it is probable that 
the survivors of each race are about equal in 
number. 

It is true that the number of our own species has 
lately been placed as high as a thousand, but even 
if these figures are correct, the seeds of decay from 
internal causes, such as inbreeding and the degen- 
eration of restraint, are already sown, and the in- 
evitable end of the race is not far off. 

The Peace River, or woodland, bison has lately 
been separated as a sub-species {B, bison atha- 
basca)j distinguished from the southern and bet- 

65 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

ter known form by superior size, a wider forehead, 
longer, more slender and incurved horns, and by a 
thicker and softer coat, which is also darker In 
color. Now, it is an interesting fact that a fos- 
sil bison skull from the lower Pliocene of India re- 
sembles the present European species, and in later 
geological times very similar bisons closely allied to 
each other, if not identical, inhabited all northern 
regions, including America. These were large ani- 
mals with wide skulls, and there is little doubt that 
from this circumpolar form came both of the 
bisons now inhabiting Europe and America. Out 
of some half dozen fossil bison which have been 
described from America, none earlier than the 
latest Tertiary, Bison latifrons from the Pleisto- 
cene seems likely to have been the immediate ances- 
tor of recent American species, and as the one skull 
of the woodland bison which has been examined 
resembles both latifrons and the European species 
more than the plains species does, it seems probable 
that these two more nearly represent the primitive 
bison, of which the former inhabitant of the 
prairies is a more modified descendant. 

The process of elimination has at last led to this 
outline definition of a bison, but among the ungu- 
lates we have passed over, there are certain others 
which concern us because they are American. 

(6 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

Sheep and goats agree together and differ from 
oxen in being usually of smaller size; the tail is 
shorter, the horns of females are much smaller than 
those of males, they lack the accessory column on 
the inner side of the upper molars, and the can- 
non bone is longer and more slender; but when it 
comes to a comparison of the one with the other, it 
is by no means always easy to tell the difference. 
It is true that the early Greeks seem to have had a 
rough and ready rule under which mistakes were 
not easy, for Aristotle tells us "Alcmseon is mis- 
taken when he says that goats breathe through 
their ears," but the severely practical methods of 
our own day leave us little but some very minute 
points of difference. One of the best of these lies 
in the shape of the basi-occipital bone, but 
naturally this can be observed only in the prepared 
skull. The terms often employed to denote differ- 
ence in the horns can have only a general applica- 
tion, for they break down In certain species in 
which the two groups approach each other. The 
following table expresses some fairly definite points 
of separation : 



(57 



American Big Game in its Haunts 



Sheep (Ozns). 

1. Muzzle hairy except be- 
tween and just above the 
nostrils. 

2. Interdigital glands on all 
the feet. 

3. Suborbital gland and pit 
usually present. 

4. No beard nor caprine 
smell in male. 

5. Horns with coarse trans- 
verse wrinkles ; yellowish 
or brown; sub-triangular 
in male, spreading out- 
ward and forward with a 
circular sweep, points 
turned outward and for- 
ward. 



Goat (Capra). 
I. Muzzle entirely hairy. 



2. Interdigital glands, when 
present, only on fore feet. 

3. Sub-orbital gland and pit 
never present. 

4. Male with a beard and 
caprine smell. 

5. Horns with fine transverse 
striations, or bold knobs 
in front; blackish; in male 
more compressed or angu- 
lar, sweeping backward 
with a scythe-like curve or 
spirally, points turned up- 
ward and backward. 



These features are distinctive as between most 
sheep and most goats, but the Barbary wild sheep 
{Ovis tragelaphiis) has no suborbital gland or pit, 
a goat-like peculiarity which It shares with the 
Himalayan bharal {Ovis nahtira) , In which the 
horns resemble closely those of a goat from the 
eastern Caucasus called tur {Capra cylindricor- 
nis) , which for Its part has the horns somewhat 
sheep-like and a very small beard. This same 
bharal has the goat-like habit of raising Itself upon 
Its hind legs before butting. 

Both groups are a comparatively late develop- 
ment of the bovine stock, as they do not certainly 

68 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

appear before the upper Pliocene of Europe and 
Asia, and even at a later date their remains are not 
plentiful. Goats appear to have been rather the 
earlier, but are entirely absent from America. 

The number of distinct species of sheep in our 
fauna Is a matter of too much uncertainty to be 
treated with any sort of authority at this time. 
Most of us grew up In the belief that there was 
but one, the well-known mountain sheep {Ovis 
canadensis) , but seven new species and sub-species 
have been produced from the systematic mill within 
recent years, six of them since 1897. It is no part 
of the purpose of the present paper to dwell upon 
much vexed questions of specific distinctness, and it 
will only be pointed out here that the ultimate 
validity of most of these supposed forms will de- 
pend chiefly upon the exactness of the conception of 
species which will replace among zoologists the 
vague Ideas of the present time. Whatever the 
conclusion may be, it seems probable that some de- 
gree of distinction will be accorded to, at least, one 
or two Alaskan forms. 

As sheep probably came Into America from Asia 
during the Pleistocene, at a time when Bering's 
Strait was closed by land. It might be expected that 
those now found here would show relationship to 
the Kamtschatkan species (Ovis nivicola) ; and 

69 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

such is indeed the case, while furthermore, in the 
small size of the suborbital gland and pit, and in 
comparative smoothness of the horns, both species 
approach the bharal of Thibet and India, which in 
these respects is goat-like. 

When one considers the poverty of the new 
world in bovine ruminants, it seems strange that 
three such anomalous forms should have fallen to 
its share as the prong-horn, the white goat and the 
musk-ox, of none of which have we the complete 
history; two of the number being entirely isolated 
species, sometimes regarded as the types of 
separate families. 

The prong-horn is a curious compound. It re- 
sembles sheep in the minute structure of its hair, 
in its hairy muzzle, and in having interdigital 
glands on all its feet. Like goats, it has no sub- 
orbital gland nor distinct pit. Like the chamois, it 
has a gland below and behind the ear, the secretion 
of which has a caprine oder. It has also glands on 
the rump. It is like the giraffe in total absence of 
the accessory hoofs, even to the metapodials which 
support them. It differs from all hollow horned 
ungulates in having deciduous horns with a fork or 
anterior branch. There is not the least similarity, 
however, between these horns and the bony decidu- 
ous antlers of deer, for, like those of all bovines, 

70 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

they are composed of agglutinated hairs, set on a 
bony core projecting from the frontal region of the 
skull. 

It is well known that these horn sheaths are at 
times shed and reproduced, but the exact regularity 
with which the process takes place is by no means 
certain, although such direct evidence as there is 
goes to prove that it occurs annually in the autumn. 
Prong-bucks have shed on eight occasions in the 
Zoological Gardens at Philadelphia, five times by 
the same animal, which reached the gardens in 
October, 1899, and has shed each year early in 
November, the last time on October 22, 1903,* 
and the writer has seen one fine head killed about 
November 5 in a wild state, on which the horn- 
sheaths were loose and ready to drop off. 

But few of these delicate animals have lived 
long enough in captivity to permit study of the 
same individual through a course of years, and the 
scarcity of observations made upon them in a wild 
state is remarkable. That irregularity In the 
process would not be without analogy, is shown by 

* It is interesting to note that the first pair shed meas- 
ured 7J4 inches, on the anterior curve; the second pair 9]^, 
and the last three 11 inches each. The largest horns ever 
measured by the writer were those of a buck killed late in 
November, 1892, near Marathon, Texas, and were 15^ 
inches in vertical height and 21 along the curve. 

71 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

the case of the Indian sambur deer, of which there 
is evidence from such authority as that king of 
sportsmen, Sir Samuel Balcer, and others, that the 
shedding does not always occur at the same season, 
nor is it always annual in the same buck; and by 
Pere David's deer, which has been known to shed 
twice in one year. 

When resemblances such as those of the prong- 
horn are so promiscuously distributed, the task of 
fixing their values in estimating affinities Is not a 
light one, and in fact the most rational conclusion 
which we may draw from them is that they point 
back to a distant and generalized ancestor, who 
possessed them all, but that in the distribution of 
his physical estate, so to speak, these heirlooms 
have not come down alike to all descendants. 
There is again a complicating possibility that some 
may be no more than adaptive or analogous char- 
acters, similarly produced under like conditions of 
life, but quite Independent of a common origin, 
and it is seldom that we know enough of the his- 
tory of development of any species to conclude with 
certainty whether or not this has been the case. At 
all events, the prong-buck Is quite alone In the 
world at present, and we know no fossils which 
unmistakably point to it, although It has been sup- 
posed that some of the later Miocene species of 

72 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

Cosoryx — small deer-like animals with non-decidu- 
ous horns, probably covered with hair, and molars 
of somewhat bovine type — may have been ancestral 
to it, but this is little more than a speculation. 
What is certain is that Antilocapra is now a com- 
pletely isolated form, fully entitled to rank as a 
family all by itself. 

In the musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus) , or "sheep- 
ox," as the generic name given by Blainville has it, 
we meet with another strange and lonely form 
which has contributed its full share to the prob- 
lems of systematic zoology. Its remote and inac- 
cessible range has greatly retarded knowledge of 
its structure, and it is only within the last three 
years that acquaintance has been made with its soft 
anatomy, and at the same time with a maze of re- 
semblances and differences toward other ruminants, 
that perhaps more than equals the irregularities of 
the prong-buck. But unlike that species, there is 
in the musk-ox no extreme modification, such as a 
deciduous horn, to separate it distinctly from the 
rest of the family. A recapitulation of these dif- 
ferences would be too minutely technical for inser- 
tion here, and it must be enough to say that while 
it cannot be assigned to either group, yet in the 
distribution of hair on the muzzle, in the presence 
of a small suborbital gland, In shortness of tail and 

73 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

the light color of its horns, it is sheep-like; in the 
absence of interdigital glands, the shortness and 
stoutness of its cannon bones, and in the presence 
of a small accessory inner column on the upper 
molars, it is bovine. But in the coarse longitudinal 
striation of the bases of its horns it differs from 
both. The shape of the horns is also peculiar. 
Curving outward, downward and then sharply up- 
ward, with broad, flattened bases meeting in the 
middle line, their outlines are not unlike those of 
old bulls of the African buffalo. 

At the present time the musk-ox inhabits only 
arctic America, from Greenland westward nearly 
to the Mackenzie River, but its range was formerly 
circumpolar, and in Pleistocene times it inhabited 
Europe as far south as Germany and France. The 
musk-ox of Greenland has lately been set aside as 
a distinct species. The most we can say is that 
Ov'ibos is a unique form, standing perhaps some- 
where between oxen and sheep, and descended 
from an ancient ruminant type through an ancestry 
of which we know nothing, for the only fossil re- 
mains which are at all distinguishable from the 
existing genus, are yet closely similar to it, and are 
no older than the Pleistocene of the central United 
States ; in earlier periods its history is a blank about 
which it is useless to speculate. 

74 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

The last of our three anomalies, the white, or 
mountain goat (Oreamnos m out anus) ^ is not as 
completely orphaned as the other two, for it seems 
quite surely to be connected with a small and pecu- 
liar series consisting of the European chamois 
and several species of Nemorhadus inhabiting 
eastern Asia and Sumatra. These are often called 
mountain antelopes, or goat antelopes. So little is 
yet known of the soft anatomy of the white goat 
that we arc much in the dark as to its minute re- 
semblances, but its glandular system is certainly 
suggestive of the chamois, and many of its attitudes 
are strikingly similar. In all the points in which it 
approaches goats it is like some, at least, among 
antelopes, while in the elongated spines of the an- 
terior dorsal vertebrze, which support the hump, 
and in extreme shortness of the cannon bone, it is 
far from goat-like. The goat idea, indeed, has 
little more foundation than the suggestive resem- 
blance of the profile with its caprine beard. 
It is truly no goat at all, and should more properly 
be regarded as an aberrant antelope, if anything 
could be justly termed "aberrant" in an aggrega- 
tion of animals, hardly any two of which agree in 
all respects of structure. No American fossils seem 
to point to Oreamnos, and as Nemorhadus ex- 
tends to Japan and eastern Siberia, it is probable 

75 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

that it was an Asiatic immigrant, not earlier than 
the Pleistocene. 

From this intricate genealogical tangle one 
turns with relief to the deer family, where the 
course of development lies reasonably plain. If 
the rank of animals in the aristocracy of nature 
were to be fixed by the remoteness of the period to 
which we know their ancestors, the deer would out- 
rank their bovine cousins by a full half of the 
Miocene period, and the study of fossils onward 
from this early beginning presents few clearer lines 
of evidence supporting modern theories respecting 
the development of species, than Is shown in the in- 
creasing size and complexity of the antlers in suc- 
ceeding geological ages, from the simple fork of 
the middle Miocene to those with three prongs of 
the late Miocene, the four-pronged of the Pliocene, 
and finally to the many-branched shapes of the 
Pleistocene and the present age. Now it is further 
true that each one of these types is represented to- 
day In the mature antlers of existing deer, from the 
small South American species with a simple spike, 
up to the wapiti and red deer carrying six or eight 
points, and still more significant Is it that the whole 
story is recapitulated in the growth of each indi- 
vidual of the higher races. The earliest cervine 

76 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

animals known seem to have had no antlers at all, 
a stage to which the fawn of the year corresponds ; 
the subsequent normal addition in the life-history, 
of a tine for each year of growth until the mature 
antler is reached, answering with exactness to the 
stages of advance shown in the development-history 
of the race. A year of individual life is the symbol 
of a geological period of progression. This is a 
marvelous record, of which we may say — para- 
phrasing with Huxley the well-known saying of 
Voltaire — "if it had not already existed, evolution 
must have been invented to explain." 

The least technical, and for the present purpose 
the most useful of the characters distinguishing 
existing deer from all of the bovine stock, lies in 
the antlers, which are solid, of bony substance, and 
are annually shed. They are present in the males 
of all species except the Chinese water deer, and 
the very divergent musk-deer, which probably 
should not be regarded as a deer at all. They are 
normally absent from all females except those of 
the genus Rangifer. Most deer have canine teeth 
in the upper jaw, though they are absent in the 
moose, in the distinctively American type and a few 
others. The cleaned skull always shows a large 
vacuity in the outer wall in front of the orbit, 
which prevents the lachrymal bone from reaching 

77 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

the nasals. No deer has a gall bladder. There 
are many other distinctions, but as all have excep- 
tions they are of value only in combinations. 

The earliest known deer, belonging to the genus 
Dremotherium, or Amphitragulus, from the mid- 
dle Tertiary of France, were of small size and had 
four toes, canine teeth and no antlers. Their suc- 
cessors seem to have borne simple forked antlers 
or horns, probably covered with hair, and perma- 
nently fixed on the skull. Very similar animals ex- 
isted in contemporaneous and later deposits in 
North America. From this point the course of 
progress is tolerably clear as to deer in general, 
although we are not sure of all the intermediate de- 
tails — for it must not be forgotten that a series of 
types exhibiting progressive modifications In each 
succeeding geological period is quite as conclusive 
in pointing out the genealogy of an existing group 
as if we knew each individual term in the ancestral 
series of each of its members. Thus we do not yet 
know whether the peculiar antler of the distinctively 
American deer, of the genus Mazama, is derived 
from an American source or took Its origin in the 
old world, for the fossil antlers known as Ano- 
glochis, from the Pliocene of Europe, are quite 
suggestive of the Mazama style, but as nothing is 
known of the other skeletal details of Anoglochis, 

78 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

any such connection must at present be purely 
speculative, but the element of doubt in this special 
case in no way disturbs the certainty of the general 
conclusion that all our present Cervida have come 
through distinct stages In the successive periods, 
from the simple types of the middle Tertiary. 

The family is undoubtedly of old world origin, 
and for the most part belongs to the northern 
hemisphere, South America being the only conti- 
nental area in which they are found south of the 
equator. 

The analytical habit of mind which finds vent 
In the subdivision of species, is also exhibited in a 
tendency to break up large genera into a number 
of small ones, but In the present group this practice 
has the disadvantage of obscuring a broad distinc- 
tion between the dominant types inhabiting respec- 
tively the old world and the new. The former, 
represented by the genus Cervus, has a brow-tine 
to the antlers; has the posterior portion of the 
nasal chamber undivided by the vertical plate of 
the vomer; and the upper ends only of the lateral 
metacarpals remain, whereas in all these particu- 
lars the typical American deer are exactly opposite. 
As there are objections to considering these charac- 
ters as of family value, arising from the Interme- 
diate position of the circumpolar genera Alces and 

79 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

Rangifer, as well as the water deer and the roe, a 
broader meaning is given to classification by re- 
taining the comprehensive genera Cervus and 
Mazama, and recognizing the subordinate divi- 
sions only as sub-genera. 

The one representative of Cervus inhabiting 
America is the wapiti, or "elk" (C. canadensis) , 
which is without doubt an immigrant from Asia by 
way of Alaska, and it may be of interest to state 
the grounds upon which this conclusion rests, as 
they afford an excellent example of the way In 
which such results are reached. It is an accepted 
truth in geographical distribution, that the portion 
of the earth in which the greatest number of forms 
differentiated from one type are to be found, is 
almost always the region in which that type had its 
origin. Now, out of about a dozen species and 
sub-species of wapiti and red deer to which names 
have been given, not less than eight are Asiatic, so 
that Asia, and probably its central portion, is indi- 
cated as the region in which the elaphine deer 
arose ; in confirmation of which is the further fact 
that the antler characteristic of these deer seems 
to have originated from the same ancestral form as 
that which produced the sikine and rusine types, 
which are also Asiatic. From this centre the 
elaphines spread westward and eastward, resulting 

80 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

in Europe in the red deer, which penetrated south- 
ward into north Africa at a time when there was a 
land connection across the Mediterranean. In the 
opposite direction, the nearer we get to Bering's 
Straits the closer Is the resemblance to the Ameri- 
can wapiti, until the splendid species from the Altai 
Mountains (C canadensis asiatiais), and Lueh- 
dorf's deer (C c. luehdorfi) from Manchuria, are 
regarded only as sub-species of the eastern Ameri- 
can form, which they approach through C. c. occi- 
dentalis of Oregon and the northwestern Pacific 
Coast. 

This evidence is conclusive in itself, and Is 
further confirmed by the geological record, from 
which we know that the land connection between 
Alaska and Kamtschatka was of Pliocene age, 
while we have no knowledge of the wapiti in 
America until the succeeding period. 

While there is not the least doubt that the 
smaller American deer had an origin identical with 
those of the old world, the exact point of their 
separation Is not so clear. Two possibilities are 
open to choice : Mazama may be supposed to have 
descended from the group to which Blastomeryx 
belonged, this being a late Miocene genus from 
Nebraska, with cervine molars, but otherwise much 
like Cosoryx, which we have seen to be a possible 

8i 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

ancestor of the prong-horn; or we may prefer to 
believe that the differentiation took place earlier in 
Europe or Asia, from ancestors common to both. 
But there is a serious dilemma. If we choose the 
former view, we must conclude that the deciduous 
antler was independently developed in each of the 
two continents, and while it is quite probable that 
approximately similar structures have at times 
arisen independently, it is not easy to believe that 
an arrangement so minutely identical in form and 
function can have been twice evolved. On the 
second supposition, we have to face the fact that 
there is very little evidence from palzeontology of 
the former presence of the American type in 
Eurasia. But, on the whole, the latter hypothesis 
presents fewer difficulties and is probably the cor- 
rect one; in which case two migrations must have 
taken place, an earlier one of the generalized type 
to which Blastomeryx and Cosoryx belonged, and 
a later one of the direct ancestor of Mazama. 
There is little difficulty in the assumption of these 
repeated migrations, for evidence exists that 
during a great part of the last half of the Tertiary 
this continent was connected by land to the north- 
west with Asia, and to the northeast, through 
Greenland and Iceland, with western Europe. 
The distinction between the two groups is well 
82 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

marked. All the Mazama type are without a true 
brow-tine to the antlers; the lower ends of the 
lateral metacarpals only remain; the vertical plate 
of the vomer extends downward and completely 
separates the hind part of the nasal chamber into 
two compartments; and with hardly an exception 
they have a large gland on the inside of the tarsus, 
or heel. The complete development of these char- 
acters is exhibited in northern species, and It has 
been beautifully shown that as we go southward 
there is a strong tendency to diminished size; to- 
ward smaller antlers and reduction in the number 
of tines; to smaller size, and finally complete loss 
of the metatarsal gland on the outside of the hind 
leg; and to the assumption of a uniform color 
throughout the year, instead of a seasonal change. 

The two styles of antler which we recognize in 
the North American deer are too well known to 
require description. That characterizing the 
mule deer {Mazama hemioniis) and the Columbia 
black-tailed deer (M. columbiana) , seems never 
to have occurred in the east, nor south much be- 
yond the Mexican border, and these deer have 
varied little except in size, although three sub- 
species have lately been set off from the mule deer 
in the extreme southwest. 

The section represented by M. virginiana, with 
83 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

antlers curving forward and tines projecting from 
its hinder border, takes practically the whole of 
America in its range, and under the law of varia- 
tion which has been stated, has proved a veritable 
gold mine to the makers of names. At present it 
is utterly useless to attempt to determine which of 
the forms described will stand the scrutiny of the 
future, and no more will be attempted here than to 
state the present gross contents of cervine literature. 
The sub-genus Dorcelaphus contains all the forms 
of the United States; of these, the deer belonging 
east of the Missouri River, those from the great 
plains to the Pacific, those along the Rio Grande 
in Texas and Mexico, those of Florida, and those 
again of Sonora, are each rated as sub-species of 
virginiana; to which we must add six more, ranging 
from Mexico to Bolivia. One full species, M. 
truei, has been described from Central America, 
and another rather anomalous creature {M, 
crookVi) , resembling both white-tail and mule deer, 
from New Mexico. 

The other sub-genera are Blastoceros, with 
branched antlers and no metatarsal gland ; Xenela- 
phus, smaller in size, with small, simply forked 
antlers and no metatarsal gland ; Mazama, contain- 
ing the so-called brockets, very small, with minute 
spike antlers, lacking the metatarsal and sometimes 

84 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

the tarsal gland as well. The last three sub-genera 
are South American and do not enter the United 
States. Another genus, Pudua, from Chili, is 
much like the brockets, but has exceedingly short 
cannon bones, and some of the tarsal bones are 
united in a manner unlike other deer. In all, thirty 
specific and sub-specific names are now carried on 
the roll of Mazama and its allies. 

Attention has already been directed to the paral- 
lelism between the course of progress from simple 
to complex antlers in the development of the deer 
tribe, and the like progress in the growth of each 
individual, and to the further fact that all the 
stages arc represented in the mature antlers of ex- 
isting species. But a curious result follows from 
a study of the past distribution of deer in America. 
At a time when the branched stage had been 
already reached in North America, the isthmus of 
Panama was under water; deer were then absent 
from South America and the earliest forms found 
fossil there had antlers of the type of M. vir- 
giniana. The small species with simple antlers only 
made their appearance in later periods, and it fol- 
lows that they are descended from those of com- 
plex type. This third parallel series, therefore, in- 
stead of being direct as are the other two, is re- 
versed, and the degeneration of the antler, which 

85 



American Big Game in Its Haunts 

we have seen taking place in the southern deer, has 
followed backward on the line of previous advance, 
or, in biological language, appears to be a true case 
of retrogressive evolution — representing the fossil 
series, as it were, in a mirror. 

The reindeer-caribou type, of the genus Rangi- 
fer, agrees with American deer in having the ver- 
tical plate of the vomer complete, and in having the 
lower ends of the lateral metacarpals remaining, 
but, like Cervus, it has a brow-tine to the antlers. 
Of its early history we know nothing, for the only 
related forms which have yet come to light are of 
no great antiquity, being confined to the Pleisto- 
cene of Europe as far south as France, and are not 
distinguishable from existing species. Until re- 
cently it has been supposed that one species was 
found in northern Europe and Asia, and two 
others, a northern and a southern, in North Amer- 
ica, but lately the last two have been sub- 
divided, and the present practice is to regard the 
Scandinavian reindeer {Rangifer tarandus) as the 
type, with eight or nine other species or sub-species, 
consisting of the two longest known American 
forms, the northern, or barren-ground caribou {R. 
arcticus) ; the southern, or woodland {R. cari- 
bou) ; the three inhabiting respectively Spitz- 
bergen, Greenland and Newfoundland, and still 

86 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

more lately four more from British Columbia and 
Alaska. The differences between these are not very 
profound, but they seem on the whole to represent 
two types: the barren-ground, small of size, with 
long, slender antlers but little palmated; and the 
woodland, larger, with shorter and more massive 
antlers, usually with broad palms. There is some 
reason to believe that both these types lived in 
Europe during the interglacial period, the first- 
named being probably the earlier and confined to 
western Europe, while the other extended into 
Asia. The present reindeer of Greenland and 
Spitzbergen seem to agree most closely with the 
barren-ground, while the southern forms are 
nearest to the woodland, and these are said to also 
resemble the reindeer of Siberia. It is, therefore, 
not an improbable conjecture that there were two 
migrations into America, one of the barren- 
ground type from western Europe, by way of the 
Spitzbergen land connection, and the other of the 
woodland, from Siberia, by way of Alaska. 

Little more can be said, perhaps even less, of 
the other circumpolar genus, Alces, known in 
America as "moose," and across the Atlantic as 
"elk." It also is of mixed character in relation 
to the two great divisions we have had in mind, but 
in a different way from reindeer. 

87 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

Like American deer it has the lower ends of the 
lateral metacarpals remaining, and the antlers are 
without a brow-tine, but like Cervus it has an in- 
complete vomer, and unlike deer in general, the 
antlers are set laterally on the frontal bone, instead 
of more or less vertically, and the nasal bones are 
excessively short. The animal of northern Europe 
and Asia is usually considered to be distinct from 
the American, and lately the Alaskan moose has 
been christened Alces gigas^ marked by greater 
size, relatively more massive skull, and huge 
antlers. Of the antecedents of Alces, as in the case 
of the reindeer, we are ignorant. The earlier Pleis- 
tocene of Europe has yielded nearly related fos- 
sils,* and a peculiar and probably rather later form 
comes from New Jersey and Kentucky. This last 
in some respects suggests a resemblance to the 
wapiti, but it is unlikely that the similarity is more 
than superficial, and as moose not distinguishable 
from the existing species are found in the same 
formation, it is improbable that Cervalces bore to 
Alces anything more than a collateral relationship. 

Even to an uncritical eye, the differences between 
ungulates and carnivores of to-day are many and 

* The huge fossil known as "Irish elk" is really a fallow 
deer and in no way nearly related to the moose. 

88 



I 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

obvious, but as we trace them back into the past 
we follow on converging lines, and in our search 
for the prototypes of the carnivora we are led to 
the Creodonta, contemporary with Condylarthra, 
which we have seen giving origin to hoofed beasts, 
but outlasting them into the succeeding age. These 
two groups of generalized mammals approached 
each other so nearly In structure, that it is even 
doubtful to which of them certain outlying fossils 
should be referred, and the assumption Is quite 
justified that they had a common ancestor in the 
preceding period, of which no record is yet 
known. 

The most evident points In which Carnivora 
differ from Ungtdata are their possession of at 
least four and frequently five digits, which always 
bear claws and never hoofs; all but the sea otter 
have six small Incisor teeth In each jaw; the 
canines are large ; the molars never show flattened, 
curved crests after the ruminant pattern, but are 
more or less tubercular, and one tooth in the hinder 
part of each jaw becomes blade-like, for shearing 
off lumps of flesh. This tooth Is called the sec- 
torial, or carnasslal. 

Existing carnivores are conveniently divided Into 
three sections : Arctoidea — bears, raccoons, otters, 
skunks, weasels, etc. ; Canoidea — dogs, wolves and 

89 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

foxes; \^luroidea — cats, civets, ichneumons and 
hysenas. 

It is highly probable that these three chief types 
have descended in as many distinct lines from the 
Creodonta, and that they were differentiated as 
early as the middle Eocene, but their exact degree 
of affinity is uncertain; bears and dogs are certainly 
closer together than either of them are to cats, and 
it is questionable if otters and weasels — the 
Mustelida, as they are termed — and raccoons are 
really near of kin to bears. 

Seals are often regarded as belonging to this 
order, but their relation to the rest of the carni- 
vores is very doubtful. Many of their characters 
are suggestive of Arctoidea, but it is an open ques- 
tion if their ancestors were bear or otter-like ani- 
mals which took to an aquatic life, or whether they 
may not have had a long and independent descent. 
At all events, doubt is cast upon the proposition 
that they are descended from anything nearly like 
present land forms by the fact that seals of already 
high development are known as early as the later 
Miocene. 

The difficulty so constantly met with in attempt- 
ing to state concisely the details of classification, is 
well shown in this order, for its subdivisions rest 
less upon a few well defined characters than upon 

90 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

complex associations of a number of lesser and 
more obscure ones, a recapitulation of which would 
be tedious beyond the endurance of all but practiced 
anatomists. For the present purposes it must be 
enough to say that bears and dogs have forty-two 
teeth in the complete set, of which four on each 
side above and below are premolars, and two 
above, with three below, are molars, but these 
teeth In bears have flatter crowns and more 
rounded tubercles than those of dogs, and the sec- 
torial teeth are much less blade-like, this style of 
tooth being better adapted to their omnivorous 
food habits. Bears, furthermore, have five digits 
on each foot and are plantigrade, while dogs have 
but four toes behind and are digitigrade. These 
differences are less marked in some of the smaller 
arctoids, which may have as few as thirty-two 
teeth, and come very near to dogs in the extent of 
the digital surface which rests upon the ground in 
walking. 

In distinction from these, ^luroidea never 
have more than two true molars below, and the 
cusps of their teeth are much more sharply edged, 
reaching in the sectorials the extreme of scissor-like 
specialization. In all of them the claws are more 
or less retractile, and they walk on the ends of their 
fingers and toes. 

91 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

Cats are distinguished from the remainder of 
this section by the shortness of the skull, and reduc- 
tion of the teeth to thirty, there being but one true 
molar on each side, that of the upper jaw being so 
minute that it is probably getting ready to 
disappear. 

Civets, genets, and Ichneumons are small as com- 
pared with most cats; they are fairly well distin- 
guished by skull and tooth characters; their claws 
are never fully retractile, and many have scent 
glands, as in the civets. No member of this family 
is American. 

Hyaenas have the same dental formula as cats, 
but their teeth are enormously strong and massive, 
in relation to their function of crushing bone. 

No carnivore has teeth so admirably adapted to 
a diet of flesh as the cat, and, In fact, it may be 
doubted if among all mammals, it has a superior 
In structural fitness to its life habits in general. 

The Felida are an exceedingly uniform group, 
although they do present minor differences; thus, 
some species have the orbits completely encircled 
by bone, while in most of them these are more or 
less widely open behind; in some the first upper 
premolar Is absent, and some have a round pupil, 
while in others It Is elliptical or vertical, but if 
there is a key to the apparently promiscuous dis- 

92 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

tribution of these variations, it has not yet been 
found, and no satisfactory sub-division of the genus 
has been made, beyond setting aside the hunting- 
leopard or cheetah as Cynalurus, upon peculiar- 
ities of skull and teeth. 

True cats of the genus Felts were in existence be- 
fore the close of the Miocene, and yet earlier re- 
lated forms are known. Throughout the greater 
part of the Tertiary the remarkable type known as 
sabre-toothed cats were numerous and widely 
spread, and in South America they even lasted so 
far into the Pleistocene that it is probably true that 
they existed side by side with man. Some of them 
were as large as any existing cat and had upper 
canines six Inches or more in length. Cats have no 
near relations upon the American continent, nor do 
they appear to have ever had many except the sabre- 
tooths. Of present species some fifty are known, 
inhabiting all of the greater geographical areas ex- 
cept Australia. They are tropical and heat loving, 
but the short-tailed lynxes are northern, while both 
the tiger and leopard in Asia, and puma in 
America, range into sub-arctic temperatures, and it 
is a curious anomaly that while Siberian tigers have 
gained the protection of a long, warm coat of hair, 
pumas from British America differ very little in 
this respect from those of warm regions. 

93 



American Big Game in it? Haunts 

No other cat has so extensive a range as Felis 
concolor and its close allies, variously known as 
puma, couguar and mountain lion, which extends 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from latitude 
fifty-five or sixty north, to the extreme southern end 
of the continent. As far as is known, it is a re- 
cent development, for no very similar remains 
appear previous to post-tertiary deposits. 

Bears of the genus Ursiis are of no great an- 
tiquity in a geological sense, for we have no 
knowledge of them earlier than the Pliocene of 
Europe, and even later in America, but fossils be- 
coming gradually less bear-like and approximating 
toward the early type from which dogs also prob- 
ably sprung, go back to the early Tertiary 
creodonts. 

Cats, as we have seen, are chiefly tropical, while 
bears, with two exceptions, are northern, one 
species Inhabiting the Chilian Andes, while the 
brown bear of Europe extends Into North Africa 
as far as the Atlas Mountains. 

The family Procyonida contains the existing 
species which appear to be nearest of kin to bears. 
These are all small and consist of the well-known 
raccoon, the coatis, the ring-tailed bassaris and the 
kinkajou, all differing from bears In varying de- 
tails of tooth and other structures. The curious 

94 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

little panda (^lurus fulgens) from the Hima- 
layas, is very suggestive of raccoons, and as forms 
belonging to this genus inhabited England in Plio- 
cene times, it is possible that we have pointed out 
to us here the origin of this, at present, strictly 
American family; but, on the other hand, evidence 
is not wanting that they have always been native 
to the soil and came from a dog-like stock. 

As we have already seen, bears have the same 
dental formula as dogs, but as they are less car- 
nivorous, their grinders have flatter surfaces and 
the sectorials are less sharp ; in fact they have very 
little of the true sectorial character. It is unusual 
to find a full set of teeth in adult bears, as some 
of the premolars invariably drop out. 

It is fully as true of bears as of any other group 
of large mammals, that our views as to specific dis- 
tinction are based upon data at present utterly in- 
adequate, for all the zoological museums of the 
world do not contain suflficient material for ex- 
haustive study and comparison. The present writer 
has examined many of these collections and has no 
hesitation in admitting that his ideas upon the sub- 
ject are much less definite than they were ten years 
ago. It does appear, though, that in North Amer- 
ica four quite distinct types can be made out. First 
of these is the circumpolar species, Ursus mari- 

95 



American Big Game In Its Haunts 

timus, the white or polar bear, which most of us 
grew up to regard as the very Incarnation of tena- 
cious ferocity, but which, as It appears from the 
recitals of late Arctic explorers, dies easily to a 
single shot, and does not seem to afford much bet- 
ter sport than so much rabbit shooting. The others 
are the great Kadlak bear {U. middendorfi) ; the 
grizzly {U. horribilis), and the black or true 
American bear (U. am eric amis ) . The extent to 
which the last three may be subdivided remains 
uncertain, but the barren-ground bear ( U. richard- 
soni) Is surely a valid species of the grizzly type. 
The grizzlies and the big Alaska bears approach 
more nearly than americamis to the widespread 
brown bear {U. arctos) of Europe and Asia, and 
the hypothesis Is reasonable that they originated 
from that form or Its Immediate ancestors, In 
which case we have the Interesting series of 
parallel modifications exhibited In the two conti- 
nents, for the large bear of Kamtschatka ap- 
proaches very nearly to those of Alaska, while 
further to the south In America, where the condi- 
tions of life more nearly resemble those surrounding 
arctos, these bears have In the grizzlies retained 
more of their original form. Whether or not the 
large Pleistocene cave bear {U. spelaus) was a 
lineal ancestor Is questionable, for In its later 

96 



The Zoology of North American Big Game 

period, at least, it was contemporary with the ex- 
isting European species. The black bear, with its 
litter-brother of brown color, seems to be a genuine 
product of the new world. 

Many differential characters have been pointed 
out in the skulls and teeth of bears, and to a less 
extent, in the claws; but while these undoubtedly 
exist, the conclusions to be drawn from them are 
uncertain, for the skulls of bears change greatly 
with age, and the constancy of these variations, 
with the values which they should hold in classifi- 
cation, we do not yet know. 

It is not improbable that the reader may leave 
this brief survey with the feeling that its admis- 
sions of ignorance exceed its affirmations of cer- 
tainty, and such is indeed the case, for the law of 
scientific validity forbids the statement as fact, of 
that concerning which the least element of doubt 
remains. But the real advance of zoological 
knowledge must not thereby be discredited, for it is 
due to those who have contributed to it to remem- 
ber that little more than a generation ago these 
problems of life seemed wrapped in hopeless 
obscurity, and the methods of investigation which 
have led to practically all our present gains, were 
then but new born, and with every passing year 

97 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

doubts are dispelled, and theories turned into 
truths. There was no break in physical evolution 
when mental processes began, nor will there be in 
the evolution of knowledge as long as they con- 
tinue to exist. 

Arthur Erwin Brown. 



9S 




TROPHIES FROM ALASKA. 



Big-Game Shooting in Alaska 

I. 
Bear Hunting on Kadiak Island 

Early in April, 1900, I made my first journey to 
Alaska for the purpose of searching out for myself 
the best big-game shooting grounds which were to 
be found in that territory. Few people who have 
not traveled in that country have any idea of its 
vastness. Away from the beaten paths, much of 
its 700,000 square miles is practically unknown, 
except to the wandering prospector and the Indian 
hunter. Therefore, since I could obtain but little 
definite information as to just where to go for the 
best shooting, I determined to make the primary 
object of my journey to locate the big-game dis- 
tricts of southern and western Alaska. 

My first two months were spent in the country 
adjacent to Fort Wrangell. Here one may expect 
to find black bear, brown bear, goats, and on 
almost all of the islands along the coast great num- 
bers of the small Sitka deer, while grizzlies may 

99 

L.cfC. 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

he met a short distance back from the coast, and 
the black sheep (Ovis stonei) on the hills about 
Glenora and Telegraph Creek. Both of these 
places are on the Stiklne River, about one hundred 
and fifty miles from Its mouth, and so In Canadian 
territory. 

It must be borne in mind that the rivers are the 
only highways, for the country is very rough and 
broken, and on account of the almost continuous 
rainfall — until one has passed beyond the coast 
range of mountains — the underbrush of southern 
Alaska is very dense, offering every obstacle to the 
progress of the sportsman. All the streams are 
swift, and by no means easy to ascend. 

The Hudson's Bay Company has trading posts 
at Glenora and Telegraph Creek, and during the 
early summer sends a light draft side-wheel 
steamer up the Stiklne with a new stock of goods 
and provisions. It would be well If one intended 
to make the journey after the Stone's sheep to time 
one's arrival at Fort Wrangell so as to take ad- 
vantage of this steamer, thus doing away with the 
hard river work. 

The game of Alaska which especially appealed 
to me were the various bears. Large brown bears, 
varying In species according to the locality, may 
be found In almost all districts of Alaska. Besides 

100 



Bear Hunting on Kadiak Island 

these are the black, the grizzly, and the glacier or 
blue bear.* It is claimed that this last species has 
never fallen to a white man's rifle. It is found on 
the glaciers from the Lynn Canal to the northern 
range of the St. Elias Alps, and, as its name im- 
plies, is of a bluish color. I should judge from the 
skins I have seen that in size it is rather smaller 
than the black bear. What it lives upon in its 
range of eternal ice and snow is entirely a subject 
of surmise. 

Of all the varieties of brown bears, the one 
which has probably attracted most attention is 
the large bear of the Kadiak Islands. Before start- 
ing upon my journey I had communicated with 
Dr. Merriam, Chief of the Biological Survey, at 
Washington, and had learned from him all that he 
could tell me of this great bear. Mr. Harriman, 
while on his expedition to the Alaskan coast in 
1899, had by great luck shot a specimen, and in the 
second volume of "Big Game Shooting" in "The 
Badminton Library," Mr. Clive Phillipps-Wolley 
Yvrites of the largest "grizzly" of which he has any 
trustworthy information as being shot on Kadiak 
Island by a Mr. J. C. Tolman. These were the 

*The Polar bear is only found on the coast, and never be- 
low 61°. It is only found at this latitude when carried down 
on the ice in Bering Sea. 

lOI 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

only authentic records I could find of bears of this 
species which had fallen to the rifle of an amateur 
sportsman. 

After spending two months in southern Alaska, 
I determined to visit the Kadiak Islands in pursuit 
of this bear. I reached my destination the latter 
part of June, and three days later had started on 
my shooting expedition with native hunters. Un- 
fortunately I had come too late in the season. The 
grass had shot up until it was shoulder high, mak- 
ing it most difficult to see at any distance the game 
I was after. 

The result of this, my first hunt, was that I 
actually saw but three bear, and got but one shot, 
which, I am ashamed to record, was a miss. 
Tracks there were in plenty along the salmon 
streams, and some of these were so large I con- 
cluded that as a sporting trophy a good example 
of the Kadiak bear should equal, if not surpass, in 
value any other kind of big game to be found on 
the North American continent. This opinion re- 
ceived confirmation later when I saw the size of 
the skins brought in by the natives to the two trad- 
ing companies. 

* * * * * 

As I sailed away from Kadiak that fall morning 
I determined that my hunt was not really over, but 



Bear Hunting on Kadiak Island 

only interrupted by the long northern winter, and 
that the next spring would find me once more in 
pursuit of this great bear. 

It was not only with the hope of shooting a 
Kadiak bear that I decided to make this second ex- 
pedition, but I had become greatly interested in the 
big brute, and although no naturalist myself, it was 
now to be my aim to bring back to the scientists 
at Washington as much definite material about him 
as possible. Therefore the objects of my second 
trip were : 

Firstly, to obtain a specimen of bear from the 
Island of Kadiak; secondly, to obtain specimens 
of the bears found on the Alaska Peninsula; and, 
lastly, to obtain, if possible, a specimen of bear 
from one of the other islands of the Kadiak group. 
With such material I hoped that it could at least be 
decided definitely if all the bears of the Kadiak 
Islands are of one species; If all the bears on the 
Alaska Peninsula are of one species; and also if the 
Kadiak bear is found on the mainland, for there 
are unquestionably many points of similarity be- 
tween the bears of the Kadiak Islands and those of 
the Alaska Peninsula. It was also my plan, if I 
was successful In all these objects, to spend the fall 
on the Kenai Peninsula In pursuit of the white 
sheep and the moose. 

103 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

Generally I have made it a point to go alone on 
all big-game shooting trips, but on this journey I 
was fortunate in having as companion an old col- 
lege friend, Robert P. Blake. 

My experience of the year before was of value 
in getting our outfit together. At almost all points 
in Alaska most of the necessary provisions can be 
bought, but I should rather advise one to take all 
but the commonest necessities with him, for fre- 
quently the stocks at the various trading posts run 
low. For this reason we took with us from Seattle 
sufficient provisions to last us six months, and from 
time to time, as necessity demanded, added to our 
stores. As the rain falls almost daily in much of 
the coast country, we made it a point to supply our- 
selves liberally with rubber boots and rain-proof 
clothing. 

On the 6th of March, 1901, we sailed from 
Seattle on one of the monthly steamers, and 
arrived at Kadiak eleven days later. I shall not 
attempt to describe this beautiful island, but shall 
merely say that Kadiak is justly termed the "gar- 
den spot of Alaska." It has numerous deep bays 
which cut into the land many miles. These bays 
in turn have arms which branch out in all 
directions, and the country adjacent to these latter 
Is the natives' favorite hunting ground for bear. 

104 



igiiii Miw ,11 mmr:- 

teili^ I iiiiiii ■ i'l' ■ 






%'5a«g» ■ "iji 




LOADED BAIDARKA — BARABARA liASlC OF SLFPLIES, 
ALASKA PENINSULA. 



Bear Hunting on Kadiak Island 

In skin canoes (baidarkas) the Aleuts, paddling 
along the shore, keep a sharp lookout on the near- 
by hillsides, where the bears feed upon the young 
and tender grass. It was our plan to choose the 
most likely one of these big bays as our shooting 
grounds, and hunt from a baidarka, according to 
local custom. 

It may be well to explain here that the different 
localities of Alaska are distinctly marked by the 
difference in the canoes which the natives use. In 
the southern part, where large trees are readily 
obtained, you find large dugouts capable of hold- 
ing from five to twenty persons. At Yakutat, 
where the timber is much smaller, the canoes, 
although still dugouts, have decreased proportion- 
ately in size, but from Yakutat westward the tim- 
ber line becomes lower and lower, until the western 
half of the island of Kadiak is reached, where the 
trees disappear altogether, and the dugout gives 
place to the skin canoe or baidarka. I have never 
seen them east of Prince William Sound, but from 
this point on to the west they are in universal use 
among the Aleuts — a most interesting race of peo- 
ple, and a most wonderful boat. 

The natives of Kadiak are locally called Aleuts, 
but the true Aleuts are not found east of the Aleu- 
tian Islands. The cross between the Aleut and 

105 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

white — principally Russian — is known as the 
"Creole." 

The natives whom I met on the Kadiak Islands 
seemed to show traces of Japanese descent, for 
they resembled these people both in size and fea- 
tures. I found them of docile disposition, remark- 
able hunters and weather prophets, and most ex- 
pert In handling their wonderful canoes, with 
which I always associate them. 

The baidarka is made with a light frame of 
some strong elastic wood, covered with seal or sea 
lion skin; not a nail is used in making the frame, 
but all the various parts are tied firmly together 
with sinew or stout twine. This allows a slight 
give, for the baidarka is expected to yield to every 
wave, and in this lies its strength. There may be 
one, two, or three round hatches, according to the 
size of the boat. In these the occupants kneel, and, 
sitting on their heels, ply their sharp-pointed pad- 
dles; all paddling at the same time on the same 
side, and then all changing in unison to the other 
side at the will of the bowman, who sets a rapid 
stroke. In rough water, kamlaykas — large shirts 
made principally of stretched and dried bear gut — 
are worn, and these are securely fastened around 
the hatches. In this way the Aleuts and the in- 
terior of the baidarka remain perfectly dry, no 

io6 



Bear Hunting on Kadiak Island 

matter how much the sea breaks and passes over 
the skin deck. 

I had used the baidarka the year before, having 
made a trip with my hunters almost around the 
island of Afognak, and believed it to be an ideal 
boat to hunt from. It is very speedy, easily pad- 
dled, floats low in the water, will hold much camp 
gear, and, when well handled, is most seaworthy. 
So it was my purpose this year to again use one in 
skirting the shores of the deep bays, and in look- 
ing for bears, which show themselves in the early 
spring upon the mountain sides, or roam the beach 
in search of kelp. 

The Kadiak bear finds no trouble in getting all 
the food he wants during the berry season and dur- 
ing the run of the various kinds of salmon, which 
lasts from June until October. At this period he 
fattens up, and upon this fat he lives through his 
long winter sleep. When he wakes in the spring 
he is weak and hardly able to move, so his first aim 
is to recover the use of his legs. This he does by 
taking short walks when the weather is pleasant, 
returning to his den every night. This light exer- 
cise lasts for a week or so, when he sets out to feed 
upon the beach kelp, which acts as a purge. He 
now lives upon roots, principally of the salmon- 
berry bush, and later nibbles the young grass. 

107 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

These carry him along until the salmon arrive, 
when he becomes exclusively a fish eater until the 
berries are ripe. I have been told by the natives 
that just before he goes Into his den he eats berries 
only, and his stomach Is now so filled with fat that 
he really eats but little. 

The time when the bears go Into their winter 
quarters depends upon the severity of the season. 
Generally it Is In early November, shortly after 
the cold weather has set In. Most bears sleep un- 
interruptedly until spring, but they are occasionally 
found wandering about In mid-winter. My natives 
seemed to think that only those bears are restless 
which have found uncomfortable quarters, and 
that they leave their dens at this time of year solely 
for the purpose of finding better ones. They gen- 
erally choose for their dens caves high up on the 
mountain sides among the rocks and in remote 
places where they are not likely to be discovered. 
The same winter quarters are believed to be used 
year after year. 

The male, or bull bear, is the first to come out 
In the spring. As soon as he recovers the use of 
his muscles he leaves his den for good and wanders 
aimlessly about until he comes upon the track of 
some female. He now persistently follows her, 
and it is at this time that the rutting season of the 

io8 



Bear Hunting on Kadiak Island 

Kadiak bear begins, the period lasting generally 
from the middle of April until July. 

In Eagle Harbor, on Kadiak Island, a native, 
three years ago, during the month of January, saw 
a female bear which he killed near her den. He 
then went into the cave and found two very small 
cubs whose eyes were not yet open. This would 
lead to the belief that this species of bear brings 
forth its young about the beginning of the new 
year. At birth the cubs are very small, weighing 
but little more than a pound and a half, and there 
are from one to four in a litter. Two, however, 
Is the usual number. The mother, although in a 
state of semi-torpor, suckles these cubs in the den, 
and they remain with her all that year, hole up 
with her the following winter, and continue to fol- 
low her until the second fall, when they leave her 
and shift for themselves. 

For many years these bears have been so persist- 
ently hunted by the natives, who are constantly 
patrolling the shores in their skin canoes, that 
their knowledge of man and their senses of smell 
and hearing are developed to an extreme degree. 
They have, however, like most bears, but indiffer- 
ent sight. They range in color from a light tawny 
lion to a very dark brown; in fact, I have seen 
some bears that were almost black. Many people 

109 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

have asked me about their size, and how they com- 
pare in this respect with other bears. The Kadiak 
bear is naturally extremely large. His head is 
very massive, and he stands high at the shoulders. 
This latter characteristic is emphasized by a thick 
tuft of hair which stands erect on the dorsal ridge 
just over the shoulders. The largest bear of this 
kind which I shot measured 8 feet in a straight line 
from his nose to the end of the vertebrae, and stood 
51^ inches in a straight line at the shoulders, not 
including between 6 and 7 Inches of hair. 

Most people have an exaggerated Idea of the 
number of bears on the Kadiak Islands. Person- 
ally I believe that they are too few ever to make 
shooting them popular. In fact, it was only by 
the hardest kind of careful and constant work that 
I was finally successful in bagging my first bear 
on Kadiak. When the salmon come it Is not 
so difficult to get a shot, but this lying in wait at 
night by a salmon stream cannot compare with 
seeking out the game on the hills in the spring, 
and stalking it in a sportsmanlike manner. 

It was more than a week after our landing at 
Kadiak before the weather permitted me to go to 
Afognak, where my old hunters lived, to make our 
final preparations. One winter storm after an- 
other came In quick succession, but we did not 



Bear Hunting on Kadiak Island 

mind the delay, for we had come early and did not 
expect the bears would leave their dens before 
April. 

I decided to take with me on my hunt the same 
two natives whom I had had the year before. My 
head man's name was Fedor Deerinhoff. He was 
about forty years of age, and had been a noted sea 
otter and bear hunter. In size he was rather larger 
than the average of his race, and absolutely fear- 
less. Many stories are told of his hand-to-hand 
encounters with these big bears. I think the best 
one is of a time when he crawled into a den on his 
hands and knees, and in the dark, and at close 
quarters, shot three. He was unable to see, and 
the bears' heavy breathing was his only guide in 
taking aim. 

Nikolai Pycoon, my other native, was younger 
and shorter in stature, and had also a great repu- 
tation as a hunter, which later I found was fully 
justified, and furthermore was considered the best 
baldarka man of Afognak. He was a nice little 
fellow, always good natured, always keen, always 
willing, and the only native whom I have ever met 
with a true sense of gratitude. 

The year before I had made all arrangements to 
hire for this season a small schooner, which was to 
take us to our various shooting grounds. I was 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

now much disappointed to find that the owner of 
this schooner had decided not to charter her. We 
were, therefore, obliged to engage a very indif- 
ferent sloop, but she was fortunately an excellent 
sea boat. Her owner, Charles Payjaman, a Rus- 
sian, went with us as my friend's hunter. He was 
a fisherman and a trapper by profession, and had 
the reputation of knowing these dangerous island 
waters well. His knowledge of Russian we ex- 
pected to be of great use to us in dealing with the 
natives; Alaska was under Russian control for so 
many years that that language is the natural local 
tongue. 

It was the first of April before we got our entire 
outfit together, and it was not until four days later 
that the weather permitted us to hoist our sail and 
start for the shooting grounds, of which it was of 
the utmost Importance that we should make good 
choice. All the natives seemed to agree that 
Kllluda Bay, some seventy-five miles below the 
town of Kadlak, was the most likely place to find 
bear, and so we now headed our boat In that direc- 
tion. It was a most beautiful day for a start, with 
the first faint traces of spring In the air. As we 
skirted the shore that afternoon I sighted, through 
the glasses, on some low hills In the distance, bear 
tracks in the snow. My Aleuts seemed to think 

112 



Bear Hunting on Kadiak Island 

that the bears were probably near, having come 
down to the shore in search of kelp. It promised 
a pretty fair chance for a shot, but there was ex- 
ceedingly bad water about, and no harbor for the 
sloop to lie, so Payjaman and my natives advised 
me not to make the attempt. As one should take 
no chances with Alaskan waters, I felt that this 
was wise, and we reluctantly passed on. 

The next forenoon we put into a large bay. 
Eagle Harbor, to pick up a local hunter who was 
to accompany us to Kiliuda Bay, for both my 
Aleuts and the Russian were unacquainted with 
this locality. Ignati Chowischpack, the native 
whose services we secured, was quite a character, 
a man of much importance among the Aleuts of 
this district, and one who had a thorough knowl- 
edge of the country chosen as a hunting ground. 

We expected to remain at Eagle Harbor only 
part of the day, but unfortunately were storm- 
bound here for a week. Several times we at- 
tempted to leave, but each time had to put back, 
fearing that the heavy seas we encountered outside 
would crush in the baidarka, which was carried 
lashed to the sloop's deck. It was not until early 
on the morning of April I2, just as the sun was 
topping the mountains, that we finally reached 
Kllluda Bay. 

"3 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

Our hunting grounds now stretched before us as 
far as the eye could see. We had by this time 
passed the tree area, and it was only here and there 
in isolated spots that stunted cottonwoods bordered 
the salmon streams and scattered patches of alders 
dotted the mountain sides. In many places the 
land rolled gradually back from the shore until 
the mountain bases were reached, while in other 
parts giant cliffs rose directly from the water's 
edge, but with the glasses one could generally 
command a grand view of this great irregular bay, 
with its long arms cutting into the island in all 
directions. 

We made our permanent camp in a large bara- 
bara, a form of house so often seen in western 
Alaska that it deserves a brief description. It is 
a small, dome-shaped hut, with a frame gen- 
erally made of driftwood, and thatched with sods 
and the rank grass of the country. It has no win- 
dows, but a large hole in the roof permits light 
to enter and serves also as an outlet for the smoke 
from the fire, which is built on a rough hearth in 
the middle of the barabara. These huts, their 
doors never locked, offer shelter to anyone, and 
are frequently found in the most remote places. 
The one which we now occupied was quite large, 
with ample space to stow away our various belong- 

114 



Bear Hunting on Kadiak Island 

ings, and we made ourselves most comfortable, 
while our Aleuts occupied the small banya, or Rus- 
sian bathhouse, which Is also generally found by 
the side of the barabara. This was to be the base 
of supplies from which my friend and I were to 
hunt In different directions. 

The morning after reaching our shooting 
grounds I started with one of my natives and the 
local hunter In the baidarka to get the lay of the 
land. Blake and I agreed that It was wise to 
divide up the country, both because we could thus 
cover a much greater territory, and our modes 
of hunting differed materially. Although at the 
time I believed from what I had heard that Pay- 
jaman was an excellent man, I preferred to hunt In 
a more careful manner, as Is the native custom, In 
which I had had some experience the year before. 
I firmly believe that had Payjaman hunted as care- 
fully as my Aleuts did, my friend would have been 
more successful. 

We spent our first day skirting the shores of 
the entire bay, paddling up to its very head. 
IgnatI pointed out to Fedor all the most likely 
places, and explained the local eccentricities of the 
various winds — a knowledge of these being of the 
first Importance In bear hunting. I was much 
pleased with the looks of the country, but at the 

"S 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

same time was disappointed to find that in the 
inner bays there was no trace of spring, and that 
the snow lay deep even on the shores down to the 
high water mark. Not a bear's track was to be 
seen, and it was evident that we were on the 
grounds ahead of time. 

We stopped for tea and kmch about noon at the 
head of the bay. Near by a long and narrow arm 
of water extended inland some three miles, and it 
was the country lying adjacent to this and to the 
head of the bay that I decided to choose as my 
hunting grounds. 

We had a hard time to reach camp that night, 
for a severe storm suddenly burst upon us, and a 
fierce wind soon swept down from the hills, kick- 
ing up a heavy sea which continually swept over 
the baidarka's deck, and without kamlaykas on 
we surely should have swamped. It grew bitterly 
cold, and a blinding snow storm made it impossi- 
ble to see any distance ahead, but Ignati knew these 
waters well, and safely, but half frozen, we reached 
the main camp just at dark. 

Next day the storm continued, and it was 
impossible to venture out. My friend and I 
passed the time playing piquet, and listening to our 
natives, who talked earnestly together, going over 
many of their strange and thrilling hunting ex- 

ii6 



Bear Hunting on Kadiak Island 

periences. We understood but little Russian and 
Aleut, yet their expressive gestures made it quite 
possible to catch the drift of what was being said. 
It seemed that Ignati had had a brother killed a 
few years ago, while bear hunting In the small bay 
which lies between Eagle Harbor and Kiliuda Bay. 
The man came upon a bear, which he shot and 
badly wounded. Accompanied by a friend he fol- 
lowed up the blood trail, which led into a thick 
patch of alders. Suddenly he came upon a large 
unwounded male bear which charged him unpro- 
voked, and at such close quarters that he was un- 
able to defend himself. Before his companion, 
who was but a short distance away, could reach 
him, he was killed. The bear frightfully mangled 
the body, holding it down with his feet and using 
his teeth to tear it apart. 

Ignati at once started out to avenge his brother, 
and killed in quick succession six bears, allowing 
their bodies to remain as a warning to the other 
bears, not even removing their skins. 

During the past few years three men while hunt- 
ing have been killed by bears In the same vicinity 
as Ignati's brother, two Instantly, and one living 
but a short time. I think It Is from these acci- 
dents that the natives in this region have a super- 
stitious dread of a "long-tailed bear" which they 

117 



American Big Game In Its Haunts 

declare roams the hills between Eagle Harbor and 
KIHuda Bay. 

The storm which began on the 13th continued 
until the 17th, and this was but one of a series. 
Winter seemed to come back In all Its fury, and I 
believe that whatever bears had left their winter 
dens went back to them for another sleep. It was 
not until the middle of May that the snow began 
to disappear, and spring with Its green grass came. 

All this time I was camped with my natives at 
the head of the bay, some fifteen miles from our 
base of supplies. On the 23d of April we first 
sighted tracks, but it was not until May 15 that I 
finally succeeded in bagging my first bear. 

The tracks in the snow indicated that the bears 
began again to come out of their winter dens the 
last week in April ; and should one wish to make a 
spring hunt on the Kadlak Islands, the first of 
May would, I should judge, be a good time to 
arrive at the shooting grounds. 

When the wind was favorable, our mode of 
hunting was to leave camp before daylight, and 
paddle in our baldarka up to the head of one of 
these long bays, and, leaving our canoe here, 
trudge over the snow to some commanding ele- 
vation, where we constantly used the glasses upon 
the surrounding hillsides, hoping to see bear. We 

118 



Bear Hunting on Kadlak Island 

generally returned to camp a little before noon, 
but in the afternoon returned to the lookout, where 
we remained until it was too dark to see. 

When the wind was blowing into these valleys 
we did not hunt, for we feared that whatever bears 
might be around would get our scent and quickly 
leave. New bears might come, but none which had 
once scented us would remain. For days at a time 
we were storm-bound, and unable to hunt, or even 
leave our little tent, where frequently we were 
obliged to remain under blankets both day and 
night to keep warm. 

On May 15, by 4 o'clock, I had finished a hur- 
ried breakfast, and with my two Aleuts had 
left in the baidarka for our daily watching place. 
This was a large mound lying in the center of a 
valley, some three miles from where we were 
camped. On the right of the mound rose a gently 
sloping hill with its sides sparsely covered with 
alders, and at right angles and before it, extended 
a rugged mountain ridge with rocky sides stretch- 
ing all across our front, while to the left rose an- 
other towering mountain ridge with steep and 
broken sides. All the surrounding hills and much 
of the low country were covered with deep snow. 
The mountains on three sides completely hemmed 
in the valley, and their snowy slopes gave us an 

119 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

excellent chance to distinguish all tracks. Such 
were the grounds which I had been watching for 
over a month whenever the wind was favorable. 

The sun was just topping the long hill to our 
right as we reached our elevated watching place. 
The glasses were at once In use, and soon an ex- 
clamation from one of my natives told me that new 
tracks were seen. There they were — two long un- 
broken lines leading down from the mountain on 
our right, across the valley, and up and out of 
sight over the ridge to our left. It seemed as if 
two bears had simply wandered across our front, 
and crossed over the range of mountains into the 
bay beyond. 

As soon as my hunters saw these tracks they 
turned to me, and, with every confidence, said: "I 
guess catch." Now, it must be remembered that 
these tracks led completely over the mountains to 
our left, and it was the most beautiful bit of hunt- 
ing on the part of my natives to know that these 
bears would turn and swing back into the valley 
ahead. To follow the tracks, which were well up 
In the heart of our shooting grounds, would give 
our wind to all the bears that might be lurking 
there, and this my hunters knew perfectly well, yet 
they never hesitated for one moment, but started 
ahead with every confidence. 

120 



Bear Hunting on Kadiak Island 

We threaded our way through a mass of thick 
alders to the head of the valley, and then climbing 
a steep mountain took our stand on a rocky ridge 
which commanded a wide view ahead and to our 
left in the direction in which the tracks led. We 
had only been in our new position half an hour 
when Nikolai, my head hunter, gripped my arm 
and pointed high up on the mountain in the direc- 
tion in which we had been watching. There I 
made out a small black speck, which to the naked 
eye appeared but a bit of dark rock protruding 
through the snow. Taking the glasses I made out 
a large bear slowly floundering ahead, and evi- 
dently coming downward. His coat seemed very 
dark against the white background, and he was 
unquestionably a bull of great size. Shortly after 
I had the satisfaction of seeing a second bear, 
which the first was evidently following. This was, 
without doubt, a female, by no means so large as 
the first, and much lighter in color. The smaller 
bear was apparently hungry, and it was interesting 
to watch her dig through the snow in search of 
food. Soon she headed down the mountain side, 
paying absolutely no attention to the big male, 
which slowly followed some distance in the rear. 
Shortly she reached a rocky cliff which it seemed 
impossible that such a clumsy animal could 

121 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

descend, and I almost despaired of her making the 
attempt, but without a pause she wound in and out, 
seemingly traversing the steepest and most difficult 
places in the easiest manner, and headed for the 
valley below. When the bull reached this cliff we 
lost sight of him; nor could we locate him again 
with even the most careful use of the glasses. He 
had evidently chosen this secure retreat to lie up in 
for the rest of the day. If I could have killed the 
female without alarming him, and then waited on 
her trail, I should undoubtedly have got another 
shot, as he followed her after his rest. 

It was 8 o'clock when we first located the bears» 
and for nearly three hours I had a chance to watch 
one or both of them through powerful glasses. 
The sun had come up clear and strong, melting 
the crust upon the snow, so that as soon as the 
female bear reached the steep mountain side her 
downward path was not an easy one. At each step 
she would sink up to her belly, and at times would 
slip and fall, turning somersault after somersault; 
now and again she would be buried in the snow 
so deep that it seemed impossible for her to go 
either ahead or backward. Then she would roll 
over on her back, and, loosening her hold on the 
steep hillside, would come tumbling and slipping 
down, turning over and over, sideways and end- 

T22 



Bear Hunting on Kadiak Island 

ways, until she caught herself by spreading out all 
four legs. In this way she came with each step 
and turn nearer and nearer. Finally she reached 
an open patch on the hillside, where she began to 
feed, digging up the roots of the salmon-berry 
bushes at the edge of the snow. If now I lost sight 
of her for a short time, it was very difficult 
to pick her up again even with the glasses, so per- 
fectly did the light tawny yellows and browns of 
her coat blend in with the dead grass of the place 
on which she was feeding. 

The wind had been blowing in our favor all the 
morning, and for once continued true and steady. 
But how closely we watched the clouds, to see that 
no change in its direction threatened us. 

We waited until the bear had left the snow and 
was quietly feeding before we made a move, and 
then we slowly worked ahead and downward, 
taking up a new position on a small ridge which 
was well to leeward, but still on the opposite side 
of the valley from the bear. She seemed in an ex- 
cellent position for a stalk, and had I been alone 
I should have tried it. But the Aleut mode of 
hunting is to study the direction in which your 
game is working, and then take up a position which 
it will naturally approach. 

Taking our stand, we waited, watching with 
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American Big Game in its Haunts 

much interest the great ungainly creature as she 
kept nibbling the young grass and digging up 
roots. At times she would seem to be heading 
in our direction, and then again would turn and 
slowly feed away. Suddenly something seemed to 
alarm her, for she made a dash of some fifty yards 
down the valley, and then, seeming to recover her 
composure, began to feed again, all the while 
working nearer and nearer. The bear was now 
well down in the bottom of the valley, which was 
at this point covered with alders and intersected by 
a small stream. There were open patches in the 
underbrush, and it was my intention to shoot when 
she passed through one of these, for the ground 
was covered with over a foot of snow, which would 
offer a very tempting background. 

While all this was passing quickly through my 
mind, she suddenly made another bolt down the 
valley, and, when directly opposite our position, 
turned at right angles, crossed the brook, and came 
straight through the alders into the open, not eighty 
yards away from us. As she made her appearance 
I could not help being greatly impressed by the 
massive head and high shoulders on which stood 
the pronounced tuft of hair. I had most care- 
fully seen to my sights long before, for I knew how 
much would probably depend on my first shot. It 

124 



Bear Hunting on Kadlak Island 

surely seemed as if fortune was with me that day, 
as at last I had a fair chance at the game I had 
come so far to seek. Aiming with the greatest 
care for the lungs and heart, I slowly pressed the 
trigger. The bear gave a deep, angry growl, and 
bit for the wound,* which told me my bullet was 
well placed; but she kept her feet and made 
a dash for the thicket. I was well above, and so 
commanded a fairly clear view as she crashed 
through the leafless alders. Twice more I fired, 
and each time with the most careful aim. At the 
last shot she dropped with an angry moan. My 
hunters shook my hand, and their faces told me 
how glad they were at my final success after so 
many long weeks of persistent work. Including 
the time spent last year and this year, this bear 
represented eighty-seven days of actual hunting. 

I at once started down to look at the bear, when 
out upon the mountain opposite the bull was seen. 
He had heard the shots and was now once more 
but a moving black speck on the snow, but It will 
always be a mystery to me how he could have 
heard the three reports of my small-bore rifle so 

* When a bullet strikes a Kadiak bear, he will always 
bite for the wound and utter a deep and angry growl; 
whereas of the eleven bears which my friend and I shot on 
the Alaska Peninsula, although they, too, bit for the wound, 
not one uttered a sound. 

125 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

far away and against a strong wind. My natives 
suggested that the shots must have echoed, and in 
this I think they were right ; but even then it shows 
how abnormally the sense of hearing has been de- 
veloped in these bears. 

I was sorry to find that the small-bore rifle did 
not give as great a shock as I had expected, for my 
first two bullets had gone through the bear's lungs 
and heart without knocking her off her feet. 

The bear was a female, as we had supposed, but 
judging from what my natives said, only of 
medium size. She measured 6 feet 4 inches in a 
straight line between the nose and the end of the 
vertebrae, and 44^ inches at the shoulders. The 
fur was in prime condition, and of an average 
length of 4^ inches, but over the shoulders the 
mane was two inches longer. Unfortunately, as 
in many of the spring skins, there was a large 
patch over the rump apparently much rubbed. The 
general belief is that these worn patches are made 
by the bears sliding down hill on their haunches on 
the snow; but my natives have a theory that this 
is caused by the bears' pelt freezing to their dens 
and being torn off when they wake from their win- 
ter's sleep. 

Although this female was not large for a 
Kadiak bear, as was proved by one I shot later in 

126 



Bear Hunting on Kadiak Island 

the season, I was much pleased with my final suc- 
cess, and our camp that night was quite a merry 
one. 

Shortly after killing this bear, Blake and I re- 
turned to the trading post at Wood Island to pre- 
pare for a new hunt, this time to the Alaska 
Peninsula. 



127 



II. 

Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

The year before I had chanced to meet an old 
pilot who had the reputation of knowing every 
nook and corner of the Alaskan coast. He told 
me several times of the great numbers of bears 
that he had often seen In a certain bay on the 
Alaska Peninsula, and advised me most strongly to 
try this place. We now determined to visit this 
bay in a good sized schooner we had chartered 
from the North American Commercial Company. 

There were numerous delays In getting started, 
but finally, on May 3 1, we set sail, and In two days 
were landed at our new shooting grounds. Rarely 
In modern days does It fall to the lot of amateurs 
to meet with better sport than we had for the next 
month. 

The schooner landed us with our natives, two 
baldarkas, and all our provisions, near the mouth 
of the harbor. Here we made our base of sup- 
plies, and the next morning In our two canoes 
started with our hunters to explore this wonderful 

128 



Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

bay. At high tide Chinitna Bay extends inland 
some fifteen miles, but at low water is one vast 
bog of glacial deposit. Rugged mountains rise on 
all sides, and at the base of these mountains there 
are long meadows which extend out to the high 
water mark. In these meadows during the month 
of June the bears come to feed upon the young and 
tender salt grass. 

There was a long swell breaking on the beach 
as we left our base of supplies, but we passed 
safely through the line of breakers to the smooth 
waters beyond, and now headed for the upper bay. 
The two baidarkas kept side by side, and Blake 
and I chatted together, but all the while kept the 
glasses constantly fixed upon the hillsides. We 
had hardly gone a mile before a small black bear 
was sighted ; but the wind was unfavorable, and he 
got our scent before we could land. This looked 
decidedly encouraging, and we continued on in the 
best of spirits. About mid-day we went on shore, 
lunched, and then basked in the sun until the after- 
noon, when we again got into the baidarkas and 
paddled further up the bay to a place where a wide 
meadow extends out from the base of the moun- 
tains. Here Nikolai, my head hunter, went on 
shore with the glasses, and raising himself cau- 
tiously above the bank, took a long look at the 

129 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

country beyond. It was at once quite evident that 
he had seen something, and we all joined him, 
keeping well hidden from view. There, out upon 
the marsh, could be seen two large bears feeding 
upon the young grass. They seemed in an almost 
unapproachable position, and we lay and watched 
them, hoping that they would move into a more 
advantageous place. After an hour or so they fed 
back toward the trees, and soon passed out of 
sight. 

t We matched to see which part of the meadow 
each should watch, and it fell to my lot to go 
further up the marsh. I had been only a short time 
in this place when a new bear came Into sight. We 
now made a most beautiful stalk right across the 
open to within a hundred yards. All this while 
a new dog, which I had bought at Kadiak and 
called Stereke, had crawled with us flat on his 
stomach, trembling all over with excitement as he 
watched the bear. I had plenty of time to take 
aim, and was in no way excited, but missed clean at 
one hundred yards. At the report of my rifle 
Stereke bit himself clear from Nikolai, who was 
holding him, and at once made for the bear, which 
he tackled In a most encouraging manner, nipping 
his heels, and then quickly getting out of the way 
as the bear charged. But I found that one dog 

130 



Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

was not enough to hold these bears, and this one 
got safely away. 

It was a dreary camp that night, for I had 
missed an easy shot without a shadow of excuse. 
We pitched our small tent at the extreme edge of 
the marsh behind a large mass of rocks. I turned 
in thoroughly depressed, but awoke the next morn- 
ing refreshed, and determined to retrieve my care- 
less shooting of the day before. A bad surf break- 
ing on the beach prevented our going further up 
the bay in our baidarkas, as we had planned to 
do. We loafed in the sun until evening, while our 
natives kept constant watch of the great meadow 
where we had seen the bears the day before. We 
had just turned In, although at ten o'clock It was 
still daylight, when one of the natives came run- 
ning up to say that a bear was In sight, so Blake, 
with three natives and Sterekc, made the stalk. I 
had a beautiful chance to watch it from the high 
rocks beside our camp. The men were able to ap- 
proach to within some fifty yards, and Blake, with 
his first shot, hit, and with his third killed the bear 
before it could get into the brush. Stereke, when 
loosed, acted in a gallant manner, and tackled the 
bear savagely. 

Unfortunately no measurements were taken, but 
the bear appeared to be somewhat smaller than the 

131 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

female I killed at Kiliuda Bay, and weighed, I 
should judge, some 450 pounds. It appeared 
higher on the legs and less massive than the Kadiak 
bear, and had a shorter mane, but was of much the 
same tawny color on the back, although darker on 
the legs and belly. 

Two days later we set out from our camp be- 
hind the rocks and paddled a short distance up 
the bay. 

Here we left the baldarkas and crossed a large 
meadow without sighting bear. We then followed 
some miles the banks of a small stream. Leaving 
my friend with his two men, I pushed ahead with 
my natives to Investigate the country beyond. But 
the underbrush was so dense it was impossible to 
see more than a few yards ahead. We had gone 
some distance, and Fedor and I had just crossed a 
deep stream on a rickety fallen tree, while the 
other native was following, when I chanced to look 
back and saw a small black bear just opposite. He 
must have smelt us, and, wanting to see what sort 
of creature man was, had deliberately followed up 
our tracks. Nikolai had my rifle on the other side 
of the brook, so I snatched up Fedor's and twice 
tried to shoot ; but the safety bolt would not work, 
and when I had it adjusted the bear showed only 
one shoulder beyond a tree. It was just drawing 

132 



Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

back when I pressed the trigger. The bullet 
grazed the tree, was deflected, and a patch of hair 
was all that I had for what promised the surest of 
shots. 

In the afternoon we made for a place which our 
hunters declared was a sure find for bear; but un- 
like most "sure places," we sighted our game even 
before we reached the ground. There they were, 
two large grizzled brutes, feeding on the salt marsh 
grass like two cows. We made a most exciting ap- 
proach in our baidarkas, winding in and out, across 
the open, up a small lagoon which cut into the 
meadow where the bears were feeding. We got 
to within two hundred yards when they became 
suspicious, but could not quite make us out. One 
now rose on his hind legs to get a better view, and 
offered a beautiful chance, but I waited for my 
friend, whose turn it was to have first shot, and 
he delayed, thinking that I was not ready. The 
result was that the bears at once made for the 
woods, and we both missed. 

Stereke again did his part well, catching one of 
the bears and tackling him in a noble manner, turn- 
ing him and doing his best to hold him, but this 
was more than one dog could do, and the bear 
broke away and soon reached cover. 

I am glad to record that with this day's 
133 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

miss ended some of the most careless shooting I 
have ever done. 

This evening we made our camp on the beach on 
the other side of the bay. I was up frequently dur- 
ing the night, for bears were constantly moving 
about on the mountain side just behind our sleep- 
ing place, but although I could distinctly hear 
them, the thick brush prevented my getting a shot. 

In this latitude there is practically no night dur- 
ing the month of June, and I can recall no more en- 
chanting spot than where we were now camped. 
Even my hard day's work would not bring sleep, 
and I lay with my faithful dog at my feet and 
gazed on the vast mountains about us, their sum- 
mits capped with snow, while their sides were 
clothed in the dull velvet browns of last year's 
herbage, through which the vivid greens of a north- 
ern summer were rapidly forcing themselves. 

It was after five next morning when we left in 
our two baidarkas for the extreme head of the bay, 
where there was another vast meadow. My friend 
chose to hunt the right side of this marsh, while I 
took the left. 

On reaching our watching place I settled myself 
for the day in my fur rug, and soon dozed off to 
finish my night's rest, while my men took turns 
with the glasses. About ten o'clock a black bear 

134 



Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

was sighted a long way off, but he soon wandered 
into the thicket which surrounded the marsh on 
three sides. At twelve o'clock he appeared again, 
and we now circled well to leeward and waited 
where two trails met at the edge of the meadow, 
expecting the bear would work down one of them 
to us. It was a long tiresome wait, for we were 
perched upon some tussocks through which the 
water soon found its way. About five o'clock we 
returned to our original watching place, where my 
friend joined me. 

The wind had been at a slant, and although we 
had worked safely around the bear, he must have 
got the scent of Blake's party, although a long 
way off, for my friend reported that the bear was 
coming in our direction, as we had counted upon, 
when he suddenly threw up his head, gave one 
whiff, and started for the woods. 

On Friday morning, June 7, we made a three 
o'clock start from where we had passed the night 
on the beach. The sun was not over the moun- 
tains for another hour, and there was that great 
charm which comes in the early dawn of a sum- 
mer's day. Blake in his baidarka, and I in mine, 
paddled along, side by side, and pushed up to the 
extreme head of the bay, where we came upon an 
old deserted Indian camp of the year before. 

135 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

Numerous stretchers told of their success with 
bear; but the remains of an old fire in the very 
heart of our shooting grounds warned us that in 
this section the bears might have been disturbed; 
for the Alaskan bear is very wary, and is quick to 
take alarm at any unusual scent. We came back 
to our camp on the beach by ten o'clock, and had 
our first substantial meal of the day; for we had 
now adopted the Aleutian habit of taking simply a 
cup of tea and a piece of bread in order to make 
the earliest of starts each morning. 

After our mid-day breakfast, we usually took a 
nap until afternoon; but this day I was not sleepy, 
and so read for a while, then I loaded my rifle, 
which I always kept within arm's reach, and was 
just settling my rugs to turn In, when Stereke gave 
a sharp bark, and Blake shouted, "Bear," Seiz- 
ing my rifle I looked up, and walking toward us 
on the beach, just no yards away, was a good 
sized bull bear. My dog at once made for him, 
while Blake jumped for his rifle. The bear was 
just turning when I fired. He bit for the wound, 
but uttered no sound, and was just disappearing 
in the brush when I fired a hasty second. Blake 
and I followed into the thick alders after the dog, 
which was savagely attacking the bear. His bark- 
ing told us where the bear was, and I arrived just 

136 



Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

in time to see him make a determined charge at the 
dog, which quickly avoided him, and just as quickly 
renewed the attack. 

I forced my way through the alders and got in 
two close shots, which rolled him over. It ap- 
peared that my first shot had broken his shoulder, 
as well as cut the lower portion of the heart; but 
this bear had gone some fifty yards, and was still 
on his feet, when I came up and finished him off. 
He was a fair sized bull, six feet two inches in a 
straight line along the vertebras, and stood exactly 
three feet at the shoulders. He had evidently been 
fighting, for one ear was badly torn, and his skin 
was much scarred with old and recent wounds. 
After removing the pelt the carcass was thrown 
into the bay, so that there might be no stench, 
which my natives declared would be enough to 
spoil any future shooting in this locality. This 
same afternoon we moved our camp to a new 
marsh, but the wind was changeable, and we saw 
nothing. 

The next morning we sighted a bear, which fed 
Into the woods before we had time to come up with 
him. Shortly after five o'clock the brute made a 
second appearance, but as the wind had changed 
and now blew in the wrong direction, a stalk could 
not be made without our scent being carried Into 

137 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

the woods, where many bears were apt to be. We 
made it a great point never to make a stalk unless 
the wind was right, for we were extremely anxious 
not to spoil the place by diffusing our scent, and 
driving away whatever bears might be lurking 
near. Therefore, many times we had a chance to 
watch bears at only a few hundred yards' distance. 

It was most interesting to see how careful these 
big animals were, and how, from time to time, they 
would feel the wind with their noses, and again 
stop feeding and listen. No two bears seemed to 
be built on quite the same lines. Some were high 
at the shoulders and then sloped down toward the 
rump and nose; and again, others were saddle- 
backed; still others stood with their front feet 
directly under them, making a regular curve at the 
shoulders; while others had the front legs wide 
apart, and seemed to form a triangle, the apex 
of which was at the shoulders. 

Their range of color seemed to be from very 
dark, silver-tipped, to a very light dirty yellow, 
but with dark legs and belly. 

This evening, just as we were having our tea, 
another bear made his appearance. The first, 
which we had been watching, evidently heard him 
coming through the woods, and as the second came 
out Into the open the former vanished. The new 

138 



Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

one was a dirty yellowish white, with very dark 
belly and legs, which gave him a most comical 
appearance. 

The wind still continued unfavorable, and my 
friend and I passed an extremely interesting even- 
ing with the glasses, for this watching game, espe- 
cially bear, gives me almost as much pleasure as 
making the actual stalk. 

About ten o'clock the wind changed, and Blake 
went after the bear, but unfortunately missed at 
about one hundred yards. 

The following day opened dull, and we spent 
the morning keeping a sharp watch on the marsh. 
About ten o'clock a large bear was seen to come 
out from the trees. The wind was wrong, and as 
the bear was in an unapproachable position I had 
to sit with folded arms and watch him. I used 
the glasses with much Interest until shortly after 
four o'clock, when he slowly fed into the brush. 

We had just finished supper when we saw an- 
other bear In a better position, and I proceeded 
to make the stalk, going part of the way In the 
baidarka, for the great meadow was intersected by 
a stream from which small lagoons made off in all 
directions. The wind was very baffling, and 
although we successfully reached a clump of brush 
in the middle of the marsh, the bear for some time 

139 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

continued to graze in an unapproachable spot. 
We had almost given up hope of getting a shot, 
when he turned and fed slowly some fifty yards in 
a new direction, which was up-wind. This was 
our chance. Quickly regaining the baidarka, we 
paddled as noiselessly and rapidly as possible up 
the main stream of the marsh to a small lagoon, 
which now at high tide had sufficient water to float 
us. 

There was great charm in stalking game in this 
manner, although I was, in a sense, but a passen- 
ger in my natives' hands. But it was fascinating 
to watch their keenness and skill as they guided 
the frail craft round the sharp turns, the noiseless 
use of the paddles, the light in their eye as they 
constantly stood up in the canoe to keep a hidden 
gaze upon the game ahead, watching its every 
movement as well as the local eddies and currents 
in the light evening breeze. All was so in keep- 
ing with the sombre leaden clouds overhead, and 
the grizzled sides of the ungainly brute, blending 
in with the background of weather-beaten tree 
trunks and the dull gray rocks. And so, silently 
and swiftly, stopping many times when the bear's 
head was up, we approached nearer and nearer, 
until my head man whispered, Boudit (enough), 
and I knew that I was to have a fair shot. Stealth- 

140 



Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

ily raising my head above the bank I saw the bear 
feeding, only seventy-five yards away. Creeping 
cautiously out of the boat I lay flat upon my 
stomach, rifle cocked and ready, waiting for a good 
shot. Soon it came. The bear heard some sound 
in the forest, and raised his head. Now was my 
chance, and the next second he dropped without a 
sound; he struggled to rise, but I could see he was 
anchored with a broken shoulder. My men were 
unable to restrain themselves any longer, and as I 
shot for the second time, their rifles cracked just 
after mine. We now rushed up to close quarters. 
The bear, shot through the lungs, was breathing 
heavily and rapidly choking. 

Suddenly I heard a yap, and then, out over the 
marsh, came Stereke at full speed. I had left him 
with my friend, as we thought we might have to 
do some delicate stalking across the open. He had 
sighted the bear, and watched our approach all 
a-tremble, and at the report of my rifle there was 
no holding him. Over the ground he came In 
great bounds, ^nd arrived just In time to give the 
bear a couple of shakes before he breathed his last. 
We carried the entire carcass to the baldarka, and 
even the cartridge shells were taken away, to avoid 
tainting the place with an unusual scent. 

The next day we returned to the main camp, 
141 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

for Fedor, who was ill, had become very weak, 
and was in no condition to stand any hardships. 
We left him at the main camp in care of Payjaman. 
He was greatly depressed, and seemed to give 
way completely, frequently saying that he never 
expected to see his home again. Knowing the 
Aleut's character so well, I much feared that his 
mental state might work fatal results. Our medi- 
cines were of the simplest, and there was but little 
we could do. Fortunately he did recover, but it 
was not until two weeks later, when our hunt was 
nearly over, that he began to get better. 

Three days afterward we were back again at 
our camp behind the rocks. We had wanted rain 
for some time to wash out all scent. Then again 
bears are supposed to move about more freely in 
such weather. Therefore we were rather pleased 
when the wind changed, bringing a northwest 
storm which continued all the next day. The lofty 
mountains were rapidly losing the snow on their 
summits, and the night's rain had wrought marvels 
in their appearance, seeming to bring out every 
shade of green on their wooded slopes. One of 
our natives was kept constantly on the lookout, and 
a dozen times a day both Blake and I would leave 
our books and climb to the watching place for a 
view across the great meadow. By this time we 

142 



Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

knew the bear trails and the most tempting feeding 
grounds, and the surest approaches to the game 
when it had once come into the open. Therefore 
when I was told this evening that a bear had been 
sighted, I felt pretty sure of getting a shot. He 
had not come well out into the open, and was 
clearly keeping near cover and working parallel to 
the brush. If he continued in this direction he 
would soon be out of sight. Our only chance was 
to make a quick approach, and Nikolai and I were 
Immediately under way, leaving my dog with my 
friend, who was to loose him in case I got 
a shot. 

The wind was coming In great gusts across our 
front, and the corner where the bear was feeding 
offered a dangerous place for eddies and back- 
currents against the mountain side. In order to 
avoid these, we kept just Inside the woods. Niko- 
lai ■ going first showed the greatest skill In 
knowing just how close to the wind we could go. 
We quickly reached the place where we expected 
to sight the bear, but he was hidden in the bed of 
the river, and it was some minutes before we could 
make out the top of his head moving above the 
grass. Then noiselessly we crawled up as the bear 
again fed slowly Into view. He was now about 
125 yards away, and offered an excellent shot as he 

143 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

paused and raised his head to scent the breeze; but 
Nikolai whispered, "No," and we worked nearer, 
crawling forward when the bear's head was down, 
and lying flat and close when his head was up. 

It is curious to note that often when game is be- 
ing stalked it becomes suspicious, although it can- 
not smell, hear, or see the stalker; instinct, per- 
haps — call it what you will. And now this bear 
turned and began moving slowly toward cover. 
For some time he was hidden from view, and then, 
just before he would finally vanish from sight, he 
paused a moment, offering a quartering shot. The 
lower half of his body was concealed by the grass, 
but it was my last chance, and I took it, aiming for 
the lungs and rather high in order to get a clear 
shot. I saw as he bit for the wound that the bullet 
was well placed, and as he turned and lumbered 
across our front, I fired two more deliberate shots, 
one going through the fore leg and one breaking a 
hind leg. 

Nikolai also fired, giving the bear a slight skin 
wound, and hitting the hind leg just above where 
one of my bullets had previously struck. As the 
bear entered the brush we both ran up, my hunter 
going to the left while I went a little below to head 
the bear off. We soon came upon him, and 
Nikolai, getting the first sight, gave him another 

144 



Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

bullet through the lungs with my heavy rifle, and 
in a few moments he rolled over dead. 

It was my thought always to keep a wounded 
bear from getting into the brush, as the blood trail 
would have ruined future shooting. 

I think it important to point out that when my 
bullet struck this bear he bit for the wound. As he 
did so he was turned from his original direction, 
which would have carried him in one bound out 
of sight among the trees, and instead turned and 
galloped across our front, thereby giving me an 
opportunity to fire two more shots. It frequently 
happened that bears were turned from their 
original direction to the sides upon which they re- 
ceived the first bullet, and we always gave this 
matter careful consideration when making an 
approach. 

My Aleuts were not permitted to shoot unless 
we were following up a wounded bear in the thick 
brush; but I found it most difficult to keep them 
to this rule. The large hole of the bullet from 
my .50-caliber which Nikolai carried made it easy 
to distinguish his hits, and if a bear had received 
the mortal wound from his rifle, I should not have 
kept the skin. 

The pelt of this bear which we had just killed 
was in excellent condition, and although he was 

145 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

not fat, he was of fair size, measuring 6 feet 3^ 
inches along the vertebrae. 

Great care was taken as usual to pick up the 
empty cartridge shells, and we pulled up the bloody 
bits of grass, throwing them into a brook, into 
which we put also the bear's carcass. 

The storm continued for several days, and was 
accompanied by an unfavorable wind, which drew 
up into all our shooting grounds. We kept quietly 
in camp, which was so situated that although we 
were just opposite the great marsh, our scent was 
carried safely away. Then we were most careful 
to have only small fires for our cooking, and we 
were extremely particular to select dry wood, so 
that there would be as little smoke as possible. 

All this while we kept a constant watch upon 
the meadow, but no bears made their appearance. 

On the morning of the 19th, my friend and 
his hunter went up the shore to investigate a 
small marsh lying a mile or so from camp. Here 
they saw that the grass had been recently nibbled, 
and that there were fresh signs about. They re- 
turned to this spot again that evening and sighted 
a bear. The bear fed quickly up to within sixty- 
five yards, when Blake rolled him over. This bear 
was not a large one, and was of the usual tawny 
color. 

146 



Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

The next morning a bear was seen by my natives 
in the big meadow by our camp, but he did not re- 
main long enough for a stalk. At 9 130 he again 
came out into the open, and Nikolai and I made a 
quick approach, but the bear, although he was not 
alarmed, did not wait long enough for us to get 
within range. We had skirted the marsh, keeping 
just inside o( the thicket, and now when the bear 
disappeared we settled ourselves for a long wait 
should he again come Into the open. We were well 
hidden from view, and the wind blew slanting In 
our faces and across our front. I had just begun 
to think that we should not get a shot until the 
bear came out for his evening feed, when Nikolai 
caught my arm and pointed ahead. There, slowly 
leaving the dense edge of the woods, was a new 
bear, not so large as the first, but we could see at 
a glance that she had a beautiful coat of a dark 
silver-tip color. 

Removing boots and stockings, and circling 
around, we came out about seventy-five yards from 
where we had last seen the bear; but she had 
moved a short distance ahead, and offered us a 
grand chance for a close approach. Keeping be- 
hind a small point which made out into the open, 
we were able to crawl up to within fifty yards, and 
then, waiting until the bear's head was up, I gave 

147 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

her a quartering shot behind the shoulders. She 
half fell, and bit for the wound, and as she slowly 
started for the woods I gave her another shot 
which rolled her over. This bear proved to be a 
female, the first we had shot upon the mainland, 
probably the mate of the bear we had originally 
attempted to stalk. The skin, although small, was 
the most beautiful I have ever killed. 

Upon examining the internal effects of my shots, 
I was disappointed to find that my first bullet, on 
coming in contact with one of the ribs, had torn 
away from the metal jacket and had expanded to 
such an extent that it lost greatly in penetration. 
I had of late been forced to the conclusion that the 
small-bore rifle I was using on such heavy game 
lacked the stopping force I had credited it with, 
and that the bullets were not of sufficient weight. 

The next morning I sent our men to the main 
camp for provisions, for we now intended to give 
this marsh a rest, and go to the head of the bay. 
They returned that evening, and reported that they 
had seen a bear on the mountain side; they had 
stalked to within close range, and had made an 
easy kill. They had but one rifle with them, and 
had taken turns, Ivan having the first shot, while 
Nikolai finished the bear off. This skin was a 
beautiful one, of light yellowish color, and al- 

148 



Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

though our men wanted to present it to us, 
neither Blake nor I cared to bring it home with 
the trophies we had shot. 

On June 23 we turned our baidarkas' bows to 
the upper bay, at the head of which we ascended 
a small river that wound through a vast meadow 
until the stream met the mountains. Here we un- 
loaded our simple camp gear, and while the men 
prepared breakfast, Blake and I ascended an ele- 
vation which commanded an uninterrupted view 
of the grassy plain. No bears were in sight, so we 
had time and undisturbed opportunity to enjoy the 
beauty of the scene. We lay for some time bask- 
ing in the sun, talking of books and people, and of 
many subjects of common interest. Now and then 
one would take the glasses and scan the outskirts 
of the vast meadow which stretched before us. All 
at once Blake gave a low exclamation and pointed 
to the west. I followed the direction of his gaze, 
and saw four bears slowly leaving the woods. 
They were at some distance, and we did not think 
we had time to reach them before they would 
probably return to the underbrush for their mid-day 
sleep, so for the present we let them go. 

After breakfast, as they were still in the same 
place, we attempted the stalk, going most of the 
way in our baidarkas, winding in and out through 

149 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

the meadow in the small lagoons which intersected 
it in all directions. Every little while the men 
would ascend the banks with the glasses, thus keep- 
ing a watchful eye upon the bears' movements. 
Taking a time when they had fed into the under- 
brush, we made a quick circle to leeward over the 
open, then reaching the edge of the thicket, we 
approached cautiously to a selected watching place. 
We reached this spot shortly after one o'clock. 
The bears had entered the woods, so we settled 
ourselves for a long wait. It was Blake's turn to 
shoot, which meant that he was to have an undis- 
turbed first shot at the largest bear, and after he 
had fired I could take what was left. 

Just before three o'clock three bears again made 
their appearance. Two were yearlings which in 
the fall would leave their mother and shift for 
themselves, and one much larger, which lay just at 
the edge of the underbrush. Had these yearlings 
not been with the mother she would not have come 
out so early in the afternoon, and, as it was, she 
kept in the shadow of the alders, while the two 
smaller ones fed out some distance from the woods. 

We now removed our boots, and, with Stereke 
well in hand, for he smelt the bears and was tug- 
ging hard on his collar, noiselessly skirted the 
woods, keeping some tall grass between the bears 

150 



Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

and ourselves. In this way we approached to 
within one hundred yards. Twice one of the 
smaller animals rose on his hind legs and looked 
In our direction ; but the wind was favorable, and 
we were well concealed, so they did not take alarm. 

My friend decided to shoot the mother, while I 
was to reserve my fire until after his shot. I ex- 
pected that at the report of his rifle the bear I had 
chosen would pause a moment In surprise, and thus 
ofFer a good standing shot. As my friend's rifle 
cracked, the bear I had selected made a sudden 
dash for the woods, and I had to take him on the 
run. At my first shot he turned a complete somer- 
sault, and then, quickly springing up, again made a 
dash for cover. I fired a second time, and rolled 
him over for good and all. Stereke was instantly 
slipped, and made at once for my bear. By the 
time we had run up he was shaking and biting his 
hindquarters In a most approved style. We at 
once put him after the larger bear, which Blake 
had wounded, and his bark in the thick alders told 
us he had located her. We all followed in and 
found that the bear, although down, was still alive. 
Blake gave her a final shot through the lungs. 

The third bear got away, but I believe It was 
wounded by Nikolai. The one that Blake had 
killed was the largest female we got on the Penln- 

isi 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

sula, measuring 6 feet 65^ Inches along the 
vertebrae. 

It is interesting to note that the two yearlings 
differed greatly in color. One was a grizzled 
brown, like the mother, while the other was very 
much lighter, of a light dirty yellowish color. 

We had watched these bears for some hours in 
the morning, and I feel positive that the mother 
had no cubs of this spring with her; yet on exam- 
ination milk was found in her breasts. My natives 
told me that frequently yearling cubs continue to 
suckle, and surely we had positive proof of this 
with the large female bear. 

On our way back to camp that night we saw 
two more bears on the other side of the marsh, but 
they did not stay in the open sufficiently long to 
allow us to come up. 

The mosquitoes had by this time become almost 
unbearable, and it was late before they permitted 
us to get to sleep. About 3 A. M. it began to rain, 
but I was so tired that I slept on, although my pil- 
low and blankets were soon well soaked. As the 
rain continued, we finally put up our small tent; 
but everything had become thoroughly wet, and 
we passed a most uncomfortable day. 

In the afternoon a black bear appeared not far 
from our camping place. My friend went after 

152 



Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

this with his hunter, who made a most wonderful 
stalk. The bear was in an almost unapproachable 
position, and the two men appeared to be going 
directly down wind; but Ivan insisted that there 
was a slight eddy in the breeze, and in this he must 
have been correct, for he brought Blake up to 
within sixty yards, when my friend killed the bear 
with a bullet through the brain. 

I think it is interesting to note that our shooting 
grounds were the extreme western range of the 
black bear. A few years ago they were not found 
in this locality, but it is quite evident that they are 
each year working further and further to the 
westward. 

The next day the heavy rain still continued. 
The meadow was now one vast bog, and the small 
lagoons were swollen into deep and rapid streams. 
Everything was wet, and we passed an uncomfort- 
able day. Our two hunters were camped about 
fifty yards off under a big rock, and I think must 
have had a pretty hard time of it, but all the while 
they kept a sharp lookout. 

About one o'clock the men reported that a large 
bear had been seen some distance off, but that it 
had remained in sight only a short time. We ex- 
pected this bear would again make his appearance 
in the afternoon, and in this surmise we were cor- 

153 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

rect, for he came out into the open three hours 
later, when Nikolai and I with Stereke made the 
stalk. We circled well to leeward, fording the 
many rapid streams with great difficulty. The 
rain had melted the snow on the hills, and we fre- 
quently had to wade almost up to our shoulders in 
this icy water. 

In crossing one of the lagoons Stereke was car- 
ried under some fallen trees, and for a while I very 
much feared that my dog would be drowned. The 
same thing almost happened to myself, for the 
swift current twice carried me off my feet. 

The bear had fed well into the open, and it was 
impossible, even by the most careful stalking, to 
get nearer than a small patch of tall grass about 
175 yards away. I put up my rifle to shoot, but 
found that the front sight was most unsteady, for 
I was wet to the skin and shaking all over with 
cold. Half expecting to miss, I pressed the trig- 
ger, and was not greatly surprised to see my bullet 
splash in the marsh just over the bear's head. He 
saw the bullet strike on the other side, and now 
came in our direction, but Stereke, breaking loose 
from Nikolai, turned him. He now raced across 
our front at about 125 yards, with the dog in close 
pursuit. This gave me an excellent chance, and T 
fired three more shots. At my last, I saw the bear 

154 



Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

bite for his shoulder, showing that my bullet was 
well placed. He continued to dash ahead, when 
Nikolai fired, also hitting him in the shoulder with 
the heavy rifle. He dropped, but gamely tried to 
rise and face Stereke, who savagely attacked his 
quarters. Nikolai now fired again, his bullet 
going in at the chest, raking him the entire length, 
and lodging under the skin at the hind knee joint. 
Unfortunately this bear fell in so much water that 
it was impossible to take any other accurate 
measurement than the one along his back. This 
was the largest bear we shot on the mainland, and 
the one measurement that I was able to take was 
6 feet lo inches along the vertebrae. 

On examining the internal effects of his wounds, 
I found that my bullet had struck the shoulder 
blade and penetrated one lung, but had gone to 
pieces on coming in contact with the bone. 
Although it would have eventually proved a mor- 
tal wound, the shock at the time was not sufficient 
to knock the bear ofl his feet. 

The next morning the storm broke, and we 
started back to our camp behind the rocks, for the 
skins we had recently shot needed to be cleaned and 
dried. We reached camp that afternoon, where I 
found my old hunter, Fedor, who was now better, 
and had come to join us. He had arrived the 

155 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

night before, and reported that he had seen three 
bears on the marsh. He said he had watched them 
all the evening, and that the next morning two 
more had made their appearance. He could no 
longer withstand this temptation, and just before 
we had arrived had shot a small black bear with an 
excellent skin. 

Two days after, a bear was reported in the 
meadow, and as it was my friend's turn to shoot, 
he started with his hunter to make the stalk. It 
was raining at the time, and I was almost tempted 
to lie among my blankets; but my love of sport 
was too strong, and, armed with powerful glasses, 
I joined the men on the rocks to watch- the 
hunters. 

The bear had fed well out into the meadow not 
far from a small clump of trees. In order to 
reach this clump of trees, Blake and Ivan were 
obliged to wade quite a deep stream, and had re- 
moved their clothes. Unfortunately my friend 
carelessly left his coat, in the pocket of which were 
all the extra cartridges for his and Ivan's rifles. 

I saw them reach the clump of trees, and then 
turned the glasses on the bear. At the first shot 
he sprang back in surprise, while Blake's bullet 
went high. The bear now located the shot, and 
began a quick retreat to the woods, when one of 

IS6 



Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

my friend's bullets struck him, rolling him over. 
He instantly regained his feet, and continued mak- 
ing for cover, walking slowly and looking back 
over his shoulder all the while. Blake now fired 
another shot, and again the bear was apparently 
badly hit. He moved at such a slow pace that I 
thought he had surely received a mortal wound. 
Entirely against orders, Ivan now shot three 
times In quick succession, hitting the bear with 
one shot in the hind leg, his other two shots being 
misses. Blake now rushed after the bear with his 
hunter following some fifty yards behind, and ap- 
proached to within ten steps, when he fired his last 
cartridge, hitting the bear hard. The beast fell 
upon Its head, but once more regaining its feet, 
continued toward the woods. At this point Ivan 
fired his last cartridge, but missed. The bear con- 
tinued for several steps, while the two hunters 
stood with empty rifles watching. Suddenly, quick 
as a flash, he swung round upon his hind legs and 
gave one spring after Blake, who, not understand- 
ing his Aleut's shouts not to run, started across the 
marsh, with the bear in close pursuit. At every 
step the bear was gaining, and Ivan, appreciating 
that unless the bear's attention was distracted, my 
friend would soon be pulled down, began waving 
his arms and shouting at the top of his voice, in 

157 



American Big Game in Its Haunts 

order to attract the bear's attention from Blake. 
The latter saw that his hunter was standing firm, 
and, taking In the situation, suddenly stopped. 
The bear charged to within a few feet of the two 
men; but, when he saw their determined stand, 
paused, and, swinging his head from side to side, 
watched them for some seconds, apparently unde- 
cided whether to charge home or leave them. Then 
he turned, and, looking back over his shoulder, 
made slowly for the woods. 

This bear while charging had his head stretched 
forward, ears flat, and teeth clinched, with his 
lips drawn well back, and his eyes glaring. I am 
convinced that It was only Ivan's great presence of 
mind which prevented a most serious accident. 

It Is a strange fact that a well placed bullet will 
knock the fight out of such game; but if they are 
once thoroughly aroused It takes much more lead 
to kill them. When they had got more cartridges 
my friend with two natives proceeded to follow 
this bear up; but though they tracked him some 
miles, he was never recovered. 

The Aleuts when they follow up a wounded 
bear In thick cover, strip to the skin, for they claim 
In this way they are able to move with greater 
freedom., and at the same time there are no clothes 
to catch in the brush and make noise. They go 

is8 



Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

slowly and are most cautious, for frequently when 
a bear Is wounded, If he thinks that he Is being pur- 
sued, he will swing around on his own trail and 
spring out from the side upon the hunters. 

The next day I started with my two natives to 
visit a meadow well up the bay. 

As we had but a day or two left before the 
schooner would come to take us away, we headed 
in the only direction In which the wind was favor- 
able. We left camp about three o'clock In the 
afternoon, following the shore with the wind quar- 
tering In our faces. We had gone but a mile from 
camp when I caught an Indistinct outline of a bear 
feeding on the grass at the edge of the timber, 
about 125 yards away. I quickly fired, missing 
through sheer carelessness. 

At the report the bear jumped sideways, unable 
to locate the sound, and my next bullet struck just 
above his tail and ranged forward into the lungs. 
Fedor now fired, missing, while I ran up with 
Nikolai, firing another shot as I ran, which 
knocked the bear over. Stereke savagely attacked 
the bear, biting and shaking him, and seeing that 
he was breathing his last, I refrained from firing 
again, as the skin was excellent. 

This bear had had an encounter with a porcu- 
pine. One of his paws was filled with quills, and 

159 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

in skinning him we found that some quills had 
worked well up the leg and lodged by the ankle 
joint, making a most loathsome wound. 

This bear was almost as large as the one I had 
last shot at the head of the bay, and his pelt made 
a grand trophy. I was much disgusted with my- 
self that afternoon for missing my first shot. It is 
not enough simply to get your bear, but one 
should always endeavor to kill with the first shot, 
otherwise much game will be lost, for the first is 
almost always the easiest shot, hence one should 
kill or mortally wound at that chance. 

This was the last bear that we shot on the Alaska 
Peninsula. I had been fortunate in killing seven 
brown bears, while Blake had killed three brown 
and one black, and our natives had killed one 
brown and one black bear, making a total of thir- 
teen between the 7th and 28th of June. 

The skulls of these brown bears we sent to Dr. 
Merriam, Chief of the Biological Survey, at 
Washington, and they proved to be most interest- 
ing from a scientific point of view, for from them 
the classification of the bears of the Alaska Penin- 
sula has been entirely changed, and it seems that 
we were fortunate enough to bring out material 
enough to establish a new species as well as a new 

sub-species. 

160 



Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 

The teeth of these two kinds of bears show a 
marked and uniform difference, proving conclu- 
sively that there is no Interbreeding between the 
species. I was told by Dr. Merrlam that the idea 
which Is so commonly believed, that different 
species of bears Interbreed like dogs, Is entirely 
wrong. 



i6i 



III. 

My Big Bear of Shuyak 

As I had been fortunate In shooting bears upon 
the Island of Kadlak and the Alaska Peninsula, 
nothing remained but for me to obtain a specimen 
from one of the outlying Islands of the Kadlak 
group, to render my trip In every way successful. 

I therefore determined to take my two natives 
and hunt from a baldarka the deep bays of the 
Island of Afognak, while Blake, not yet having 
obtained his bear from Kadlak, went back to hunt 
there. 

He had been extremely good to his men, and In 
settling with them on his return from the Alaska 
Peninsula had good-naturedly paid the excessive 
demands they made. The result was that his 
kindness was mistaken for weakness, and just as 
he was about to leave his hunters struck for an 
Increase of pay. He sent them to the right-about, 
and fortunately succeeded In filling their places. 

A sportsman In going Into a new country owes 
it to those who follow to resist firmly exorbitant 

162 



My Big Bear of Shuyak 

demands and at the same time to be fair and just 
in all his dealings. 

I have already described bear hunting In the 
spring, when we stalked our game upon the snowy 
hillsides, and again on the Alaska Peninsula, where 
we hunted across the open on foot, and also in the 
baidarka. I will now speak of another form. 

Toward the end of June the red salmon begin 
to run. These go up only the streams that have 
their sources In lakes. After the red salmon, come 
the humpbacks, and after the humpbacks, the dog 
salmon. Both of these latter in great numbers 
force their way up all the streams, and are the 
favorite food of the bears, which come down from 
the mountains by deep, well-defined trails to catch 
the fish in the shallow streams. When the sal- 
mon have begun to run, the only practical way of 
hunting these bears Is by watching some likely spot 
on the bank of a stream. 

Early in July Blake and I parted, Intending to 
meet again two weeks later. My friend sailed 
away in a small schooner, while I left with my two 
natives in the baidarka. In Fedor's place I had 
engaged a native by the name of Lofka. We three 
paddled with a will, as we were anxious to reach 
a deep bay on the north side of the Island of 
Afognak as soon as possible. 

163 



American Big Game In its Haunts 

This was all familiar country to me, for I had 
spent over a month in this locality the year before, 
and as we camped for the night I could hardly 
realize that twelve months had gone by since I 
left this beautiful spot. For the Island of 
Afognak, with its giant cliffs and deep bays, is to 
my mind one of the most picturesque regions I 
have ever seen. 

The next morning the wind was unfavorable, but 
In the afternoon we were able to visit one of the 
salmon streams. The red salmon had come, but 
It would be another week or more before the hump- 
backs would begin their run. It was a bleak day, 
with the rain driving in our faces. We forced 
our way up the banks of a stream for some miles, 
following well-defined bear trails through the tall 
grass. Some large tracks were seen, but we sighted 
no game. We returned to camp after ten o'clock 
that night, wet to the skin and chilled through. 
The following day was a repetition of this, only 
under worse weather conditions, If that were 
possible. 

I now decided to push on to a large bay on the 
northeast side of the Island. This Is locally known 
as Seal Bay, and Is supposed to be without question 
the best hunting ground on Afognak. 

Unfortunately a heavy wind detained us In 
164 



My Big Bear of Shuyak 

Paramonoff Bay for two days. The morning after 
the storm broke we made a four o'clock start. 
There was a strong favoring breeze, and we made 
a sail of one of the blankets. The baidarka fairly 
flew, but it was rather ticklish work, as the sea was 
quite rough. Early that afternoon we turned into 
the narrow straits which lie between the islands of 
Afognak and Shuyak. Shuyak is uninhabited, but 
some natives have hunting barabaras there. 
Formerly this island contained great numbers of 
silver gray foxes. A few years ago some white 
trappers visited it and put out poison. The result 
was the extermination of all the foxes upon the 
island, for not only the foxes that ate the poison 
died, but the others which ate the poisoned car- 
casses. The hunters obtained but one skin, as the 
foxes died in their holes or in the woods, and were 
not found until their pelts were spoiled. This is a 
fair example of the great need for Alaskan game 
laws. 

At the present time Shuyak is rich in bear and in 
land otter, and I can imagine no better place for a 
national game preserve. It has lakes and salmon 
streams, and would be an ideal place to stock. 

The straits between Shuyak and Afognak are 
extremely dangerous, for the great tides from 
Cook Inlet dra'vv through this narrow passage. 

i6s 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

My nerve was tested a bit as the baidarka swept 
by the shore, for had it once got well started we 
should have been drawn into the rapids and then 
into a long line of angry breakers beyond. At 
one point it seemed as if we were heading right 
into these dangerous waters, and then abruptly 
turning at a sharp angle, we glided around a point 
into a shallow bay. Circling this shore we suc- 
cessfully passed inside the line of breakers and 
soon met the long ground swell of the Pacific, 
while Seal Bay stretched for many miles inland on 
the other side. 

It had been a long day, but as the wind was 
favorable we stopped only for a cup of tea and 
then pushed on to the very head of the bay. Here, 
at the mouth of a salmon stream, we came upon 
many fresh bear tracks, and passed the night 
watching. As we had seen nothing by four o'clock 
in the morning, we cautiously withdrew, and, 
going some distance down the shore, camped in an 
old hunting barabara. It had been rather a long 
stretch, when one considers that we had break- 
fasted a little over twenty-four hours before. 
Watching a salmon stream by night is poor sport, 
but it is the only kind of hunting that one can do 
at this time of the year. 

I slept until seven o'clock, when the men called 
i66 



My Big Bear of Shuyak 

me, and after a cup of tea we started for the salmon 
stream, which we followed up beyond where we 
had watched it the night previous. We were very 
careful to wade so as not to give our scent to any 
bears which might approach the stream from be- 
low. There were many tracks and deep, well-used 
trails leading in all directions, while every few 
yards we came upon places where the tall grass 
was trampled down, showing where bears had been 
fishing. These bear trails are quite a feature of 
the Alaskan country, and some of them are two 
feet wide and over a foot deep, showing that they 
have been in constant use for many years. 

That night we heard a bear pass within ten 
yards of us, but could not see it. We returned to 
camp next morning at five o'clock, and I wrote up 
my journal, for this night work is extremely con- 
fusing, and one completely loses track of the days 
unless careful. 

My men came to me after their mid-day sleep 
with very cheerful countenances, and assured me 
that there was no doubt but that I should surely 
soon meet with success, for the palm of Nikolai's 
hand had been itching, and he had dreamed of 
blood and a big dog fighting, while Lofka's eyelid 
trembled. My hunters told me in all seriousness 
that these signs never failed. 

167 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

In the afternoon we decided to watch a new 
place. We carried the baidarka up a small stream 
and launched it in quite a large and picturesque 
lake. We slowly paddled along the shores and 
watched near the mouths of several salmon 
streams. By twelve o'clock we had not even seen 
a track, so I decided to return to camp and get 
some much needed sleep. The natives were to call 
me early the next morning, for I had decided to 
return to Paramonoff Bay. 

I think this was the only time In my hunting life 
that I was deliberately lazy; but, although my 
natives called me several times, I slept right on 
until nine o'clock. I was strongly tempted when 
we got under way to start back by continuing 
around the Island of Afognak; but Nikolai was 
anxious to have me give Paramonoff Bay another 
trial. Pie thought the run of the humpback sal- 
mon might have begun since we left, and if this 
was so, we were likely to find some large bears near 
the streams we had watched the week before. I 
had great confidence in his judgment, and there- 
fore decided to retrace our steps. 

We made a start about ten o'clock, but after a 
couple of hours' paddling, when we had met a fair 
tide to help us on, I lit my pipe and allowed my 
men to do all the work, while I lay back 

i68 



My Big Bear of Shuyak 

among rny rugs half dreaming in the charm 
of my surroundings. Myriads of gulls flew over- 
head, uttering their shrill cries, while now and 
then the black oyster-catchers with their long red 
bills would circle swiftly around the baidarka, fill- 
ing the air with their sharp whistles, and seemingly 
much annoyed at our intrusion. Many different 
kinds of ducks rose before us, and the ever-present 
eagles watched us from the lofty rocks. We soon 
turned the rugged headland and were once more 
in the swift tide of Shuyak Straits, where the water 
boiled and eddied about us as we sped quickly on. 
Nikolai now pointed out one of his favorite 
hunting grounds for seals, and asked if he might 
not try for one; so we turned into a big bay, and 
he soon had the glasses in use. He at once sighted 
several lying on some rocks, and we had just 
started in their direction when Nikolai suddenly 
stopped paddling, again seized the glasses, and 
looked excitedly across the straits to the Shuyak 
shore. Following the direction of his gaze I saw 
upon the beach a black speck which my native at 
once pronounced to be a bear. He was nosing 
around among some seaweed and turning over the 
rocks in search of food. Each one of us now put 
all his strength into every stroke in order to reach 
the other side before the bear could wander off. 

169 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

We cautiously landed behind some big rocks, and 
quickly removing our boots my hunter and I were 
soon on shore and noiselessly peering through the 
brush to the place where we had last seen the bear; 
but he had disappeared. 

The wind was favorable, and we knew that he 
had not been alarmed. It took us some time to 
hit off his trail, for he had wandered in all direc- 
tions before leaving this place; but after it was 
once found, his footprints in the thick moss made 
tracking easy, and we moved rapidly on. We had 
not expected a long stalk, and our feet were badly 
punished by the devil clubs which were here most 
abundant. We could see by the tracks that the 
bear had not been alarmed, and knew that we 
should soon come up with him. After a mile or so 
the trail led in the direction of a low marsh where 
the coast line makes a big bend inward, so ap- 
parently we had crossed a long point into a bay 
beyond. 

I at once felt sure that the bear was near, hav- 
ing probably come to this beach to feed, and as 
Nikolai looked at me and smiled I knew he, too, 
felt that we were on a warm trail. 

We had just begun to descend toward the shore 
when I thought I heard a slight noise ahead. 
Keeping my eyes fixed in that direction, I whis- 

170 



My Big Bear of Shuyak 

pered to Nikolai, who was standing a few feet in 
front of me, intently peering to the right. Sud- 
denly I caught just a glimpse of a tawny, brownish 
bit of color through the brush a short distance 
ahead. Quickly raising my rifle I had just a chance 
for a snap shot, and the next instant a large bear 
made a dash through some thick underbrush. It 
was but an Indistinct glimpse which I had had, 
and before I could throw another cartridge into 
the barrel of my rifle the bear was out of sight. 
Keeping my eyes moving at about the rate of speed 
I judged he was going, I fired again through the 
trees, and at once a deep and angry growl told me 
that my bullet had gone home. 

Then we raced ahead, my hunter going to the 
left while I entered the thick brush into which the 
bear had disappeared. I had gone but a short 
distance when I heard Nikolai shoot three times in 
rapid succession, and as quickly as I could break 
through I hurried in his direction. It seemed that 
as we separated, Nikolai had at once caught sight 
of the bear slowly making away. He Immediately 
fired but missed; at the report of his rifle the bear 
turned and came toward him, but was too badly 
wounded by my first two shots to be dangerous. 
At close range Nikolai fired two more shots, and it 
was at this moment that I joined him. The bear 

171 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

was down, but trying hard to get upon his feet, 
and evidently in an angry mood, so I ran up close 
and gave him another shot, which again knocked 
him over. 

Now for the first time I had a good view of the 
bear, which proved to be a very large one. As my 
men declared that this was one of the largest they 
had ever seen, I think we may safely place it as 
a fair example of the Kadiak species. Unfor- 
tunately I had no scales with me, and could not, 
therefore, take its weight ; but the three of us were 
unable to budge either end from the ground, and 
after removing the pelt the carcass appeared to be 
as large as a fair sized ox. We had much diffi- 
culty in skinning him, for he fell on his face, and it 
took us some half hour even to turn him over ; we 
were only able to do this by using his legs as levers. 
It required over two hours to remove the pelt. 
Then we had tea and shot the bear all over again 
many times, as we sat chatting before the fire. 

It seemed that at the time when I had first 
caught sight of this bear, Nikolai had just located 
the bear which we had originally seen and were 
following, and it was a great piece of luck my tak- 
ing this snap shot, for the other bear was much 
smaller. 

We took the skin and skull with us, while I 
172 



My Big Bear of Shuyak 

made arrangements with my natives to return some 
months later and collect all the bones, fori decided 
to present the entire skeleton to the National 
Museum. 

It was six o'clock when we again made a start. 
I had a deep sense of satisfaction as I lay lazily 
back in the baidarka with the large skin at my 
feet, only occasionally taking the paddle, for it had 
been a hard trip, and I felt unlike exerting myself. 
We camped that night in a hunting barabara which 
belonged to Nikolai, and was most picturesquely 
situated on a small island. 

My natives were extremely fond of bear meat, 
and they sat long into the night gorging them- 
selves. Each one would dig into the kettle with 
his fork, and bringing out a big chunk would 
crowd as much as possible into his mouth, and 
holding it there with his teeth would cut off with 
his hunting knife a liberal portion, which he would 
swallow after a munch or two. 

I had tried to eat Kadiak bear before, but it has 
rather a bitter taste, and this one was too tough 
to be appetizing. The flesh of the bears which we 
had killed on the Alaska Peninsula was excellent 
and without this strong gamy flavor.* 

*The true Kadiak bear is found only on the Kadiak Islands 
and not on the mainland. 

173 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

The next morning we made an early start, for 
to save this large skin I had decided to push on 
with all haste to the little settlement of Afognak, 
where I had arranged to meet my friend some days 
later. It was a beautiful morning, and once more 
we had a favoring breeze. Some forty miles across 
Shelikoff Straits was the Alaskan shore. The 
rugged, snow-clad mountains seemed to be softened 
when seen through the hazy blue atmosphere. One 
white-capped peak boldly pierced a line of clouds 
and stood forth against the pale blue of the sky 
beyond; while the great Douglas Glacier, ever 
present, wound its way down, down to the very 
sea. It was all grandly beautiful, and seemed in 
keeping with the day. 

We paddled steadily, stopping only once for tea, 
and at six o'clock that evening were back at the 
little fishing hamlet of Malina Place. Here I was 
asked to drink tea with a man whom my hunters 
told me had killed many bears on these islands. 

This man said that at times there were no bears 
on Shuyak, and that again they were there in 
great numbers, showing that they freely swim 
from Afognak across the straits, which, at the nar- 
rowest point, are some three miles wide. 

While I was having tea in one of the barabaras 
I heard much shooting outside, which announced 

174 



My Big Bear of Shuyak 

the return of a sea otter party that had been hunt- 
ing for two months at Cape Douglas. It was a 
beautiful sight, this fleet of twenty odd baidarkas, 
the paddles all rising and falling in perfect time, 
and changing sides without a break. There is 
nothing more graceful than one of these canoes 
when handled by expert Aleuts. These natives 
had already come forty miles that day, and were 
now going to stop only long enough for tea, and 
then push on to the little settlement of Afognak 
Place, some twenty-five miles away, where most of 
them lived. In one of the canoes I saw a small 
chap of thirteen years. He was the chief's son, 
and already an expert in hunting and In handling 
the baidarka. So is the Aleut hunter trained. 

As it had been a very warm day I feared that 
the skin might spoil. Therefore I concluded to 
continue to Afognak Place without camping for 
the night, and so we paddled on and on. As dark- 
ness came, the mountains seemed to rise grander 
and more majestic from the water on either side 
of us. At midnight we again stopped for tea, and 
while we sat by the fire the host of baidarkas of the 
sea otter party silently glided by like shadows. We 
joined them, for my men had much to tell of their 
four months with the white hunter, and many ques- 
tions were asked on both sides. 

175 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

Some miles from Afognak the baidarkas drew 
up side by side in a long, even line, our baidarka 
joining in. Drasti and Chemi* came to me from all 
sides, for I had from time to time met most of the 
native hunters of this island, and they seemed to 
regard me as quite one of them. 

When all the straggling baidarkas had caught 
up and taken their places in the line, the chief gave 
the word Kedar ("Come on"), and we all paddled 
forward, and just as the sun was rising above the 
hills we reached our journey's end. 

Two days later my friend joined me. He also 
had been successful, and had killed a good sized 
male bear in Little Uganuk Bay on Kadiak Island. 

Our bear hunt was now over, and we had been 
fortunate in accomplishing all we had hoped for. 

* Russian and Aleut for "How do you do?" 



17® 



IV. 

The White Sheep of Kenai Peninsula 

The last of July Blake and I sailed from the 
Kadiak Islands, and one week later were landed 
at the little settlement of Kenai, on the Kenai 
Peninsula. 

The mountains of this region are unquestion- 
ably the finest big-game shooting grounds in 
North America at the present day. Here one may 
expect to find four different kinds of bears — black, 
two species of brown, and the Alaska grizzly — the 
largest of moose, and the Kenai form of the white 
sheep {Ovis dalli) . 

These hills lie back from the coast some thirty 
miles, and may be reached by one of several rivers. 
It takes a couple of days to ascend some of these 
streams, but we determined tO' select a country 
more difficult to enter, thinking it would be less 
often visited by the local native hunters. We 
therefore chose the mountains lying adjacent to 
the Kenai Lake — a district which it took from a 
week to ten days to reach. 

On August 14, shortly after noon, we started up 
177 



American Big Game In its Haunts 

the river which was to lead us to our shooting 
grounds. One cannot oppose the great tides of 
Cook Inlet, and all plans are based on them. 
Therefore we did not leave until the flood, when 
we were carried up the stream some twelve miles 
— the tide limit — where we camped. 

The next morning we were up at daylight, for 
at this point began the hard river work. There 
was much brush on the banks, but our natives 
proved themselves most expert in passing the line, 
for from now on until we reached the lake our 
boats had to be towed against a swift current 

That day we made about eight miles, and 
camped shortly after five o'clock. It rained hard 
during the night, and the next morning broke 
cloudy. The river for the first twO' days wound 
through the lowlands, but from this point on the 
banks seemed higher and the current percepti- 
bly swifter, while breaking water showed the 
presence of rocks under the surface. The coun- 
try back from the stream began to be more roll- 
ing, and as the river occasionally made some bold 
bend the Kenai Mountains could be seen in the 
distance. 

Again it rained hard during the night and con- 
tinued well on into the next morning, so we made 
a late start, breaking camp at eight o'clock. 

178 



The White Sheep of Kenai Peninsula 

Spruce, alders, willows, and birch were the trees 
growing along the banks, and we now passed 
through the country where the moose range dur- 
ing the summer months. Already the days had 
become perceptibly shorter, and there was also a 
feeling of fall in the air, for summer is not long 
in this latitude. 

At this point in the river we encountered bad 
water, and all hands were constantly wet, while 
the natives were in the glacial stream up to their 
waists for hours at a time. Therefore we made 
but little progress. That night there was a heavy 
frost, and the next morning dawned bright and 
clear. The day was a repetition of the day be- 
fore, and the natives were again obliged to wade 
with the tow-line most of the way. But they were 
a good-natured lot, and seemed to take their wet- 
ting as a matter of course. About ten o'clock 
the next morning we reached the Kenai Rapids, 
where the stream narrows and the water is ex- 
tremely bad, for the current is very swift and the 
channel full of rocks. We navigated this place 
safely and came out into the smooth water beyond. 
Here we had tea and a good rest, for we felt that 
the hardest part of this tiresome journey was over. 
Above the rapids there are a few short stretches of 
less troubled water where the oars can be used; 

179 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

but these are few and far between, and one must 
count upon warping the boat from tide water to 
within two miles of the lake — an estimated dis- 
tance of between thirty-five and forty miles. 

We had hardly got started the following day 
before it began to rain heavily. We were soon 
wet to the skin and thoroughly chilled, but we 
kept on until late in the afternoon, when we 
camped in a small Indian cabin some three miles 
from the lake. 

It stormed hard during the night with such 
heavy wind that we much feared that we should be 
unable to cross the lake the next day. In the 
morning, however, the wind had gone down, and 
we made an early start. Just before reaching the 
mouth of the river we sighted game for the first 
time. A cow moose with her calf were seen on 
the bank. They stood idly watching our boats for 
a short time, and then slowly ambled off Into the 
brush. 

Occasionally as the river had made some big 
bend we had been able to sight the mountains 
which were to be our shooting grounds. Day by 
day they had grown nearer and nearer, and finally, 
after one week of this toilsome travel, we glided 
from the river to the crescent-shaped lake, and 
they now rose close before us. 

i8o 



The White Sheep of Kenal Peninsula 

This range of hills with their rough and 
broken sides compares favorably in grandeur 
with the finest of Alaskan scenery. Half way 
up their slopes was a well defined timber line, 
and then came the stunted vegetation which the 
autumn frosts had softened into velvet browns in 
deep contrast to the occasional berry patches now 
tinged a brilliant crimson; and beyond, the great 
bleak, open tablelands of thick moss sloped gently 
upward to the mountain bases; and above all, the 
lofty peaks of dull gray rock towered in graceful 
curves until lost in the mist. Great banks of snow 
lay in many of the highest passes, and over all the 
landscape the sun shone faintly through leaden 
and sombre storm clouds. 

Such was my first near view of the Kenai Moun- 
tains, and, as I learned to know them better, they 
seemed to grow more awe-inspiring and beautiful. 

When we reached Kenai Lake, Blake and I de- 
cided that it would probably be the wisest plan to 
divide things up into two separate shooting out- 
fits. We could then push over the hills in different 
directions until we came upon the sheep. Each 
would then make his own shooting camp, and our 
natives would carry out the heads we might shoot 
to our united base of supplies on the lake, and 
pack back needed provisions. 

i8i 



American Big Game In its Haunts 

At noon of August 22 Blake and outfit started 
for his shooting grounds at the eastern end of the 
sheep range, and shortly after my outfit was under 
way. My head man and the natives carried 
packs of some sixty pounds, while I carried about 
fifty pounds besides my rifle, glasses, and car- 
tridges; even my dog Stereke had some thirty 
pounds of canned goods in a pack saddle. 

Our first march led up the mountain over a 
fairly steep trail, a gale accompanied by rain meet- 
ing us as we came out from the timber on to the 
high mossy plateau. The wind swept down from, 
the hills in great gusts, and our small tent tugged 
and pulled at Its stakes until I greatly feared It 
would not stand the strain. It had moderated 
somewhat by the next morning, and we made an 
early start. 

Our line of march, well above timber, led along 
the base of the summits for some miles, then 
swinging to the left we laboriously climbed over 
one range and dropped into the valley beyond. A 
strong wind made it hard going, and sometimes 
turned us completely around as it struck slanting 
upon the packs which we carried. During the day 
sheep were seen in the distance, but we did not 
stop, for we were anxious to reach before dark a 
place where Hunter — my head man — had usually 

182 



The White Sheep of Kenai Peninsula 

made his hill camp. It must be remembered that 
at such an altitude there is very little fuel, and that 
good camping places are few and far between. 

The next morning we were up early, intending 
to take our first hunt, but the small Killy 
River, on which we were now located, was 
much swollen by the heavy rains, and could not 
be crossed. We devoted the forenoon to bridging 
this stream, but during the afternoon a small 
bunch of sheep was sighted low down on the 
mountains, and I started with Hunter to see If it 
contained any good rams. We left camp about 
noon and reached the sheep in a little over an hour. 
There was one ram which I shot for meat, but un- 
fortunately his head was smaller than I thought, 
and valueless as a trophy. 

As sheep hunting in these hills is at best hard 
work, I decided to move the camp as high up as we 
could find wood and water. The next morning as 
we started on our first real hunt, we took the native 
with us, and after selecting a spot at the edge of 
the timber line, left him to bring up our camp to 
this place while my man and I continued over the 
mountains In search of rams. The day was dull 
and the wind was fortunately light. 

After a stiff climb we came out upon a mossy 
tableland, intersected by several deep gulches,. 

183 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

down which tumbled rapid glacial streams from 
many perpetual snow banks. Above this high 
plateau rose sharp and barren mountains which 
seemed but glacial heaps of jagged boulders and 
slide rock all covered with coarse black moss or 
lichen, which is the only food of sheep during the 
winter months. 

It is generally supposed that when the heavy 
snows of winter set in the sheep seek a lower level, 
but my guide insisted that they work higher 
and higher up the mountain sides, where the winds 
have swept the snow away, and they are able to get 
this coarse but nourishing food. 

The sky-line of these hills made a series of un- 
broken curves telling of the mighty power of the 
glaciers which once held this entire country in their 
crushing grasp. 

We passed over the great plateau, which even 
at this latitude was sprinkled generously with 
beautiful small wild flowers. Crossing gulch after 
gulch we continually worked higher and higher 
by a gradual and easy ascent. 

We had been gone from camp but little over an 
hour, when, on approaching a small knoll, I 
caught sight of the white coat of a sheep just be- 
yond. At once dropping upon my hands and knees 
I crawled up and carefully peered over to the 

184 



The White Sheep of Kenal Peninsula 

other side. We had unknowingly worked into the 
midst of a big band of ewes, lambs, and small 
rams. I counted twenty-seven on my left and 
twenty-five on my right, but among them all there 
was not a head worth shooting. 

This was the first great band of white sheep I 
had seen, and I watched them at this close range 
with much interest. Soon a tell-tale eddy in the 
breeze gave them our scent, and they slowly 
moved away, not hurriedly nor in great alarm, but 
reminding me much of tame sheep, or deer In a 
park. Man was rather an unfamiliar animal to 
them, and his scent brought but little dread. From 
this time until darkness hid them, sheep were in 
plain view the entire day. In a short while I 
counted over one hundred ewes and lambs. 

We worked over one range and around another 
with the great valley of the river lying at our 
feet, while beyond were chain upon chain of bleak 
and rugged mountains. Finally we came to a vast 
gulch supposed to be the home of the large rams. 
My men had hunted in this section two years be- 
fore, and had never failed to find good heads here, 
but we now saw nothing worth stalking. By de- 
grees we worked to the top of the gulch, and 
coming to the summit of the ridge paused, for at 
our feet was what at first appeared but a perpen- 

i8s 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

dicular precipice of jagged rock falling hundreds 
of feet. The clouds now lifted a bit and we could 
see below a vast circular valley with green grass 
and rapid glacial streams. On all sides it was 
hemmed in and guarded by mighty mountains with 
giant cliffs and vast slides of broken rocks reach- 
ing from the bottom to the very summits. Op- 
posite was a great dull blue glacier from 
which the north fork of the Killy River belched 
forth, while other smaller glaciers and snow 
banks seemed kept in place only by granite 
barriers. 

We seated ourselves on the brink of this great 
cliff and the glasses were at once in use. Soon 
Hunter saw rams, but they were so far below that 
even with my powerful binoculars it was impossi- 
ble to tell more than that they carried larger heads 
than other sheep near them. 

It was impossible to descend the cliff at the 
point where we then were, so we moved around, 
looking for a place where we might work down, 
and finally found one where it was possible to 
descend some fifty yards to a sort of shute. From 
where we were we could not see whether we should 
be able to make a still further descent, and if we 
did go down that far it would be an extremely diffi- 
cult climb to get back, but we thought it probable 

i86 



The White Sheep of Kenai Peninsula 

that there would be slide rock at the other end of 
this shute, in which case the rest would be fairly 
easy. 

Moving with the greatest caution, we finally 
reached the shute, and after a bit of bad climbing 
found the slide rock at the lower end as we had ex- 
pected ; but It took us a good two hours tO' get low 
enough to tell with the glasses how big were the 
horns the sheep carried. 

There were eight rams in all. A bunch of three 
small ones about half a mile away, and just be- 
yond them four with better heads, but still not 
good enough to shoot, and apart from these, a 
short distance up the mountain side, was a solitary 
ram which carried a really good head. The bunch 
of three was unfortunately between us and the big 
sheep, and it required careful stalking to get 
within distance of the one we sought. We knew 
very well that If we suddenly alarmed the three, 
and they rushed off, they. In turn, would alarm the 
four and also the big ram. When we were still at 
some distance we showed ourselves to the three, and 
they took the hint and wandered slowly up the 
mountain side. The others, although they had not 
seen us, became suspicious, so we remained 
crouched behind some rocks until they once more 
began to feed. The big ram now came down from 

187 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

his solitary position and passed from view behind 
a mass of boulders near the remaining sheep. 

The head of the ram which I had shot the day 
before was much smaller than I had supposed at 
the time. In order to avoid this in future I had 
asked Hunter to advise me in selecting only really 
good heads. My man, who now had the glasses, 
declared that the big sheep had not joined the 
bunch of four, and I must confess that I was also 
deceived. 

Although the four had become suspicious from 
seeing the three go slowly up the cliff, still 
they had not made us out, and the wind re- 
mained favorable. Lying close only long 
enough for them to get over their uneasiness, we 
cautiously stalked up to within some two hundred 
yards. Again we used the glasses most carefully, 
but could not see the big ram. Suddenly the sheep 
became alarmed and started up the mountain. I 
expected each second to see the large ram come out 
from behind the boulders, and therefore withheld 
from shooting. But when he did not appear I 
turned my attention to the four which had paused 
and were looking down upon us from a rocky ridge 
nearly four hundred yards above. As they stood 
in bold relief against the black crags, I saw that 
one carried horns much larger than the others, and 

i88 



The White Sheep of Kenai Peninsula 

that It was the big ram. My only chance was to 
take this long shot. We had been crossing a snow 
bank at the time, and I settled myself, dug my 
heels well In, and with elbows resting on my knees 
took a steady aim. I was fortunate In judging the 
correct distance, for at the report of the rifle the 
big ram dropped, gave a few spasmodic kicks, and 
the next minute came rolling down the mountain 
side, tumbling over and over, and bringing with 
him a great shower of broken rocks. I feared that 
his head and horns would be ruined, but for- 
tunately found them not only uninjured, but a most 
beautiful trophy. The horns taped a good 34 
inches along the curve and 13^ inches around the 
butts. 

That night the weather changed, and thence- 
forth the mountains were constantly enveloped in 
mist, while it rained almost dally. These were 
most difficult conditions under which to hunt, for 
sheep have wonderful vision and can see a hunter 
through the mist long before they can be seen. 

I was anxious to bring out as trophies only the 
finest heads, and daily refused chances which some 
might have gladly taken. If we could not plainly 
see with the naked eye horns at 300 to 400 yards, 
\Ve always let the sheep pass, knowing that the 

head was small, but if at any time we could make 

189 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

out that a sheep carried a full turn to his horns, we 
knew that the head was well matured. If we saw 
a sheep facing us we could always tell when the 
horns made a full turn, for then the tips curved 
outward. 

A week after killing the big ram we again visited 
the great basin, but found nothing, and cau- 
tiously moved a little higher to a sheltered 
position. From here we carefully scanned the bot- 
tom of this large gulch, and soon spied a bunch of 
ewes and lambs, and shortly afterward three 
medium sized rams. When we first saw them one 
had become suspicious and was looking Intently in 
our direction, so we crouched low against the 
rocks, keeping perfectly still until they once more 
began to feed. When they had gradually worked 
over a slight knoll we made a quick approach, 
cautiously stalking up to the ridge over which the 
sheep had gone. I had expected to get a fair shot 
at two hundred yards or under, but when I peered 
over nothing was in sight. I concluded they had 
not gone up the mountain side, for their white 
coats against the black rocks would have rendered 
them easily seen. I, therefore, started to walk 
boldly in the direction in which we had seen them 
go, thinking they had probably taken shelter from 
the gale behind some rocks. 

190 



The White Sheep of Kenai Peninsula 

I had only gone some paces when we located 
them standing on a snow patch which had made 
them Indistinguishable. I sat down and tried to 
shoot from my knees, but the wind was coming In 
such fierce gusts that I could not hold my rifle 
steady, so I ran as hard as I could In their direc- 
tion, looking hastily about for some rock which 
would offer shelter. 

The sheep made up the mountain side for some 
three hundred yards, when they paused to look 
back. I had by this time found a sheltered posi- 
tion behind a large boulder, and soon had one of 
the rams wounded, but, although I fired several 
shots I seemed unable to knock him off his feet. 
Fearing that I might lose him after all, I aimed 
for the second ram, which was now on the move 
some distance further up the mountain, and at my 
second shot he stopped. Climbing up to within 
one hundred and fifty yards I found that both the 
sheep were badly wounded, and were unable to 
go further, so I finished them off. What was my 
surprise tO' find that the larger ram had seven 
bullets in him, while the smaller one had three. 

These sheep would almost never flinch to the 
shot, and it was difficult to tell when you had hit, 
unless In an immediately vital spot. 

The weather continued unfavorable for hill 
191 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

shooting until the third of September, but that day 
opened bright and clear, and fearing lest the good 
conditions might not last, we made an early start. 
Crossing the high plateau we followed the valley 
of the .Killy River, keeping well up and skirting 
the bases of the mountain summits. As we trudged 
along, the shrill cries of alarm of the whistling 
marmots were heard, and the little fellows could 
be seen in all directions scampering for their holes. 
Ptarmigan were also frequently met with, but not 
in such great numbers as one would have supposed 
in a region where they had never been hunted. On 
several occasions we found these birds on the 
highest summits where there was nothing but rocks 
covered with black moss. It would have been in- 
teresting to have shot one of them and learned 
upon what they were then feeding, but it was just 
in the locality where we hoped to find rams, and 
this was out of the question. That morning we 
traveled some distance before we saw sheep, but 
having once reached their feeding ground I had 
the satisfaction of watching more wild game than 
on any previous day. 

The Kussiloff hills were dotted with scattered 
bands, and I counted In one large flock forty-eight, 
while the long and narrow valley on both sides of 
the stream was sprinkled with smaller bunches con- 

192 



The White Sheep of Kenai Peninsula 

taining from two or three to twenty. It was a 
beautiful sight, for every ewe had at least one, and 
many of them two, lambs frolicking at her side. 

In addition to these sheep we saw three moose 
feeding in a small green valley at the, base of the 
opposite hills. The river was impassable for some 
miles, and although they were hardly more than a 
mile away in a straight line, they were quite unap- 
proachable, so we sat and watched them with 
much interest until they slowly fed into the timber. 

Shortly after noon we located some large sheep 
on a rocky knoll across the Killy River just below 
where the stream gushes out from a mighty 
glacier. They were a long way off, but with the 
glasses we could see that one lying apart from the 
others was a ram, and we surmised that if we could 
see his horns at such a distance even through the 
glasses he probably carried a good head. 

Working down to the stream we finally found 
a point shallow enough to wade. We now made 
a cautious and careful stalk to the place where we 
had last located the sheep, but a bunch of ewes and 
a small ram were all that we could see. 

Hunter and I were both much disgusted, for we 
had expected surely to find a head that was up to 
our standard. 

It was well on in the afternoon when we started 
193 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

back to camp. We had been going steadily over 
the broken hillsides since early morning, and had 
met sheep at almost every turn. At the sight of 
us some would bound up the steep mountain sides 
in great alarm, while several times at only a couple 
of hundred yards others merely turned their heads 
in our direction, and after observing us for a short 
time continued to graze. Somehow these ewes 
seemed to understand that I had no intention of 
molesting them. 

It is strange how the hope of seeing game keeps 
one from feeling tired, but as we trudged home- 
ward, a bit depressed that in all the great number 
of sheep seen, there had not been one good head, 
and that our hard day was all to no purpose, my 
man and I both began to feel pretty well fagged 
out. 

Late in the afternoon we paused for a brief rest 
and a smoke, and here Hunter sighted two lone 
rams in a gulch at the top of the mountain above 
us. By this time we were both pretty well used 
up, but the glasses showed that they carried good 
heads, and I determined to stalk them, even if it 
meant passing the night on the hills. So we 
worked our way up to the top of a ridge which 
commanded a view of the gulch in which the sheep 
were grazing, but they had fed some distance 

194 



The White Sheep of Kenai Peninsula 

away by the time we reached the place where I had 
expected to shoot, and were at too long a range to 
make my aim certain. If we had had plenty of 
time, we should have worked up the ridge nearer, 
and this Hunter was still anxious for me to do, but 
when I saw one of the sheep suddenly raise his 
head and look intently in our direction I knew my 
only chance was to take the long shot. I had seen 
what the .30-40 Winchester rifle would do in the 
hills, and the question was one of holding. How- 
ever, I could count on several shots before they ran 
out of sight, and even at such a distance I hoped 
tO' get one and possibly the pair. Both sheep car- 
ried good heads, but I aimed at the one 
which stood broadside to me. Hunter, who had 
the glasses, told me afterward that the ram with 
the more massive horns got away, but I succeeded 
in wounding the other so that he was unable to 
move. Knowing he would shortly die, and that 
I could find him the next morning, we at once 
started at our best pace for camp. 

We only reached our tent at nine o'clock that 
night, both completely fagged out. A cup of tea 
made us feel better, but it was late before I could 
get to sleep. Such days arc a bit too much for 
steady practice, but If they end in success the 
trophy means all the more. 

19s 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

The following day we were literally wind- 
bound, and not until the day after could we set out 
for the wounded sheep, which we eventually 
found, not fifty yards from where we had last seen 
him. It was a long and hard climb to reach him, 
but he carried a very pretty head with massive 
horns of over a full turn. I found that two shots 
of the seven which I had fired had taken effect. 

Two days later the native arrived from the 
main camp with more provisions, and brought 
an interesting letter from Blake. It seemed 
that some Englishmen who had been hunting in 
these hills just before us had driven the big rams 
to the other end of the range, where my friend 
had been most fortunate in finding them. He 
strongly advised my leaving my present camp and 
coming to the country which he had just left, hav- 
ing got six excellent heads. This was the limit 
which we had decided upon as the number of sheep 
that we each wanted. 

It was now apparently clear that I had been 
hunting at a great disadvantage in my district. 
On receiving Blake's letter I at once determined 
to retrace my steps to the main camp, go to the 
head of the lake and follow up the trail which he 
had laid out upon the mountains. 

Therefore the next morning (September 7) we 
196 



The White Sheep of Kenai Peninsula 

shouldered our packs and went over the hills to 
our main camp. Instead of following the trail 
by which we had come, we decided to push straight 
across country, hoping in this way to reach our 
main camp in one march. Our change of route 
was unfortunate, and this day I can easily put 
down as the hardest one I ever passed in the 
mountains. 

In order to bring out all our belongings in one 
trip we had extra heavy packs, and the country 
over which we marched was very trying. About 
noon I spied sheep on one of the outlying hills, and 
as we came nearer I made out through the glasses 
that this was a bunch of five rams, and that three 
of them carried exceptionally good heads. My 
only chance was to push ahead of my men, and 
this I did, but stalking sheep over a rough country 
with a heavy pack on your back is very trying 
work, and I failed to connect with these rams. 

About five o'clock in the afternoon we came 
down over the mountains on to the high plateau 
above our main camp. We were all too used up 
to go any further, or even put up our light tent, 
although it soon began to rain. We made a rude 
camp in a patch of stunted hemlocks, and as I sat 
before the fire having my tea, I chanced to look 

up on the hills before me, and there was the bunch 

197 



American Big Game In its Haunts 

of five rams I had tried so hard to stalk early in 
the afternoon. They were at no great distance, 
but it was rapidly growing dark, and there was 
not time to get within range while it would be light 
enough to shoot. So I sat and studied these sheep 
through the glasses, determined to find them later, 
even if It took me a month. 

One of them had a most beautiful head, with 
long and massive horns well over the full turn. 
Another had a head which would have been 
equally good if the left horn had not been slightly 
broken at the tip. The third also had an excellent 
head, and although not up to the other two, his 
horns made the full turn. The remaining two 
rams were smaller. I watched them until dark- 
ness came on, and all this while they fed slowly 
back toward the mountains on which my friend 
had been hunting the week before. I am con- 
vinced that this bunch of sheep had been driven 
out of these hills by Blake, and had been turned 
back again by me. 

It rained hard that night, and the next morning 
the clouds were so low that it was impossible to go 
in search of the rams T had seen the evening be- 
fore. I, therefore, determined to push Imme- 
diately to the main camp, which we reached three 
hours later. We at once lunched, and, putting our 

io8 



The White Sheep of Kenai Peninsula 

light outfit in one of the boats, rowed up to the 
head of the lake. 

This range of hills is surrounded by a mighty 
glacier, and at the foot of the glacier is a moraine 
some ten miles long extending down to Kenai Lake. 
On one side of this moraine you can walk by 
skirting the shore and using care, but on the other 
side the quicksands are deep and dangerous. We 
camped for the night in a place which my friend 
had used as his base of supplies. 

The next morning opened dull, and I felt the 
effects of my hard work and did not greatly relish 
the idea of shouldering a fifty-pound pack. But 
my time was now getting short. In two weeks the 
rutting season of the moose would begin, and in 
the meantime I wanted four more fine specimens 
of the white sheep. Any day we might expect a 
heavy fall of snow, for the northern winter had 
already begun in the hills. 

We soon found the tracks of Blake's party, 
which led up the moraine, and carried us over 
quicksand and through glacial streams, Icy cold. 
Finally we came to where Blake had started up 
the mountain side, and with all due regard to my 
friend, his trail was not an easy one. About noon 
it began to rain, but we pushed upward, although 
soon soaked to the skin, and came out above tim- 

199 



American Big Game In Its Haunts 

ber just at dark. We were all fagged out and 
shaking with cold by the time we reached Blake's 
old camp. 

The next morning broke dismally with the 
floodgates of the heavens open and the rain com- 
ing down in torrents. I lay among my rugs and 
smoked one pipe after another in order tO' keep 
down my appetite, for there was little chance of 
making a fire to cook with. In fact, most of the 
day was passed in this way, for all the wood had 
become thoroughly water-soaked. 

Late in the afternoon we succeeded in getting 
a fire started and had a square meal. While 
we were crouched around the blaze the natives saw 
sheep on the hills just above us, but it was raining 
so hard that It was Impossible to tell If they were 
rams. In fact, when sheeps' coats are saturated 
with water they do not show up plainly when seen 
at any distance, and might easily be mistaken for 
wet rocks. 

The next day opened just as dismally, with the 
storm raging harder than ever, but by eleven 
o'clock it began to let up, and we soon had our 
things drying in the wind, for the clouds looked 
threatening, and we feared the rain would begin 
again at any time. 

As we were short of provisions and depended 



The White Sheep of Kenai Peninsula 

almost entirely upon meat, my head man and I 
started at once for the hills. The little stream by 
our camp was swollen into a rushing torrent, and 
v/e were obliged to go almost to its source — a 
miniature glacier — before we could wade it. 
Climbing to the crest of the mountains on which 
we had seen the sheep the evening before, and fol- 
lowing just under the sky line, we soon saw a large 
and two small rams feeding on a sheltered ledge 
before us. 

We much feared that they would get our scent, 
but by circling well around we succeeded in making 
a fair approach. I should have had an excellent 
shot at the big ram had not one of the smaller 
ones given the alarm. The gale was coming in 
such gusts that it was difficult to take a steady aim, 
and at my first shot the bullet was carried to one 
side. I fired again just as the sheep were passing 
from view, and succeeded in breaking the leg of 
the big ram. Hunter and I now raced after him, 
but the hillside was so broken that it was impossi- 
ble to locate him, so my man went to the valley 
below where he could get a good view and signal 
to me. 

It is always well in hill shooting to have an 
understood code of signals between your man and 
yourself. The one which I used and found most 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

satisfactory provided that if my man walked to 
the right or left it meant that the game was 
in either of these directions; if he walked away 
from the mountain, it was lower down; if he ap- 
proached the mountain, it was higher up. 

As Hunter, after reaching the valley and taking 
a look with the glasses, began to walk away, I 
knew that the sheep was below me, and I suddenly 
came close upon the three, which had taken shelter 
from the gale behind a large rock. Very fre- 
quently sheep will remain behind with a wounded 
companion; especially is this so when it is a large 
ram. Now, unfortunately, one of the smaller 
rams got between me and the big one, and as I did 
not want to kill the little fellow the big ram was 
soon out of range. But he was too badly wounded 
to go far over such grounds, and I soon stalked up 
near, when I fired, breaking another leg, and then 
ran up and finished him off. This ram carried a 
very pretty head 13^ inches around the butts and 
36/4 inches along the curve, but unfortunately the 
left horn was slightly broken at the tip. It was un- 
doubtedly an old sheep, as his teeth, worn to the 
gums, and the ten rings around his horns indicated. 

When a ram's constitution has been undermined 
by the rutting season, the horns cease to grow, nor 
do they begin again until the spring of the year 

202 




HEADS OF ball's SHEEP 
(The horns above are of the Stone's sheep) 



The White Sheep of Kenai Peninsula 

with its green vegetation brings nourishing food, 
and this is the cause of the rings, which, therefore, 
indicate the number of winters old a sheep is. 
This was my head man's theory, and is, I believe, 
a correct one, for in the smaller heads which I 
have examined these rings coincided with the age 
of the sheep as told by the teeth. Up to five years, 
the age of a sheep can always be determined by the 
Incisor teeth; a yearling has but two permanent 
incisors, a two-year-old four, a three-year-old six, 
and a four-year-old or over eight teeth, or a full 
set. 

It was unpleasantly cold upon the mountains 
this day, and as no other sheep could be seen, we 
returned to camp by five o'clock. This was the 
easiest day's shooting that I had had. 

As we sat by the camp-fire that evening, four 
sheep were seen on the hills above us, two of which 
I recognized as the small rams that had been with 
the one I had just killed. We felt quite certain 
that these were the bunch of five rams which we 
had seen when we were packing out from our first 
hill camp. In fact, this was the only good band 
of rams which I saw during the entire hunt. If 
these were the same sheep, the two newcomers car- 
ried good heads, for, as previously stated, I had 
studied this lot carefully through the glasses. 

203 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

The next day, the thirteenth and Friday, 
opened dismally enough, but by the time we had 
finished breakfast the mountains were clear of 
clouds and there was no wind to mar one's shoot- 
ing. Such conditions were to be taken advantage 
of, and Hunter and I were soon working up the 
ridge well to leeward of the place where we had 
seen the sheep the night before. Reaching the 
crest we scanned the grounds on all sides, and also 
the rugged mountain tops about us. 

The white coats of these sheep against the dark 
background of black moss-covered rocks render 
them easily seen, but we now failed to sight any 
even on the distant hills. Therefore we pushed 
ahead, going stealthily up wind and keeping a 
careful watch on all sides. We crossed over the 
ridge and worked our way just below the sky-line 
on the other side of the mountain from our camp, 
never supposing that the sheep would work back, 
for they had seen our camp-fire on the night be- 
fore. We traveled nearly to the end of the ridge, 
and were just about to cross and work down to a 
sheltered place where we expected to find our 
game, when Hunter chanced to look back, and In- 
stantly motioned me to drop out of sight. 

While we had been working around one side of 
the summit the sheep had been working back on 

204 



The White Sheep of Kenai Peninsula 

the other side, and we had passed them with the 
mountain ridge between. Fortunately they were 
all feeding with their heads away or they must 
have seen us as we came out on the sky-line. My 
man had the glasses and assured me that there 
were two excellent heads. We now felt quite cer- 
tain that these were the sheep we knew so well. 

We cautiously dropped out of sight and worked 
back, keeping the mountain ridge between us. We 
were well above and had a favorable wind and the 
entire day before us. It was the first and only time 
upon these hills that the conditions had all been 
favorable for a fair stalk and good shooting. 
Hunter did his part well, and brought me up to 
within one hundred and twenty-five yards of the 
rams, which were almost directly below us. They 
had stopped feeding and were lying down. Only 
one of the smaller sheep was visible, and my man 
advised me to take a shot at him, and then take 
the two large ones as they showed themselves. 
Aiming low, I fired, and then as one of the big 
rams jumped up I fired again, killing him in- 
stantly. The smaller one that I had first shot at 
went to the left, while the one remaining large ram 
and the second smaller one went to the right. The 
latter were instantly hidden from view, for the 
mountain side was very rough and broken and 

205 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

covered with large slide rock. I raced in the same 
direction, knowing well that they would work up 
hill. But hurrying over such ground is rather 
dangerous work. 

Soon the two sheep came into view, offering a 
pretty quartering shot at a little under a hundred 
yards. The old ram fell to my first bullet, and I 
allowed the smaller one to go and grow up, and T 
hope offer good sport to some persevering sports- 
man five years hence. 

While Hunter climbed down and skinned out 
the heads I turned in pursuit of the one which I 
had first fired at, for we both thought he had been 
hit, having seen hair fly. I soon located him in the 
distance, but he showed no signs of a bad wound, 
and as his head was small I was truly glad that my 
shot had only grazed him. Both the rams which 
I killed carried excellent heads with unbroken 
points, and we were safely back in camp with the 
trophies shortly after two o'clock that afternoon — 
an easy and a pleasant day. 

The larger ram measured I3J4 inches around 
the base of the horns, and 37 J^ inches along the 
outer curves. These were the longest horns of the 
Ovis dalli that I killed. The other ram measured 
13 inches around the horns and 34^ inches along 
the outer curve. 

206 




MY BEST HEAD 



The White Sheep of Kenai Peninsula 

While we were having tea that afternoon, wc 
chanced to look up on the hills, and there, near 
the crest of the ridge, was one of the small rams 
from the bunch we had stalked that morning. He 
offered a very easy chance had I wanted his head. 
It is worthy of note that these sheep seem to have 
no fear of the smell of blood or dead comrades^, 
and on several occasions I have observed them 
near the carcass of some ram which I had shot. 

The next day opened perceptibly cooler, and the 
angry clouds overhead told us to beware of a com- 
ing storm. As I now had seven heads, five of 
which were very handsome trophies, I concluded 
to take Hunter's advice and leave the high hills. 

Our sheep shooting for the year was now practi- 
cally over. Had the weather been fine It would 
have been an ideal trip ; but with the exception of 
the third and thirteenth of September every day 
passed upon the mountains was not only disagree- 
able, but with conditions so unfavorable that It had 
been almost impossible to stalk our game properly, 
for when I had been once wet to the skin the cold 
wind from the glaciers soon chilled me to such a 
degree that I was unable to remain quietly In one 
place and allow the game to get In a favorable 
position for a stalk. I had been obliged to keep 
constantly going, and this frequently meant shoot- 

207 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

ing at long range. With the exception of the rams 
shot on the eleventh and thirteenth of September, 
I had killed nothing under three hundred yards. 
Therefore much of the sport in making a careful 
and proper stalk had been lost. 

My success with the white sheep had come only 
with the hardest kind of work, but I now had five 
really fine heads — which I later increased to six, 
my limit. I was quite satisfied with the measure- 
ments of these horns along the curve, but had 
hoped to have shot at least one which would tape 
over 14 inches around the butts, although this 
would be extreme, for the horns of the white sheep 
do not grow so large as the common Rocky Moun- 
tain variety. They are also much lighter in color. 
I believe that large and perfect heads will be most 
dijfficult to find a few years hence in this section, 
and the sportsman who has ambitions in this direc- 
tion would do well not to delay his trip too long; 
for this range of hills is not over large, and unless 
these sheep have some protection, it is only a ques- 
tion of time before they will be almost entirely 
killed off. 



208 



V. 

Hunting the Giant Moose 

On September 17 we packed up and moved 
down the lake several miles, where we made an- 
other base of supplies, for we were now going 
upon the moose range. 

The rutting season of the moose begins on the 
Kenai Peninsula about the 15th of September, and 
lasts, roughly speaking, for one month. At this 
time the bulls come from the remote places where 
they have passed the summer and seek the cows, 
and the country which they now roam is generally 
the high tablelands which lie at the base of the 
mountains just below the timber line. We had 
timed our hunt to be In the moose range during 
this season, for then the bulls are bold, and not so 
difficult to find. 

Bull moose differ from the rest of the deer 
family in not getting together a big band of cows, 
but pair off. The female remains with the bull 
only a short time, and then slips away, and then 
the bulls roam the forest in search of other part- 
ners. They are now very fearless, and If they 

209 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

come upon a female accompanied by another bull, 
fight gallantly to get possession of her. Their 
sense of smell is rather dulled at this time, for I 
have often seen their tracks following the trail 
which my native was constantly traveling. 

The calves are born in May or June, and are 
weaned during the rutting season, for the bulls are 
very apt to drive them away from their mothers. 

The antlers are hardly out of the velvet before 
the rutting season begins. They are then a light 
yellowish color, but are later stained dark brown 
by constant rubbing and scraping against bushes 
and tree trunks. 

The moose of Alaska undoubtedly carry heads 
far grander than those found in the East. In fact, 
the antlers of the Kenai Peninsula moose equal, if 
they do not exceed in size, those from any other 
part of the world, and it was my ambition to kill 
by still-hunting a good example of one of these. 

Calling moose I have never looked upon as true 
sport, unless the hunter does his own calling, and 
I am glad to see that many feel in the same way 
about this mode of hunting. 

After we had made our base of supplies on the 
shore of the lake, we shouldered our packs and 
climbed up through the forest for several hours, 
until we came to the shore of a small lake, where 

2IO 



Hunting the Giant Moose 

we made camp. The scrubby woods were very 
thick, and extended up the sides of the mountains 
for some distance; then came a broad belt of thick 
alders, and beyond that the high open tablelands, 
which rolled back to the base of the sheep hills. In 
all directions deep game trails, traveled by the 
moose for many years, wound through the forest. 

In the afternoon my man and I took our first 
hunt. Fresh tracks were seen in the much-used 
runways, which were often worn two feet deep by 
constant travel. Late in the afternoon I saw 
live sheep feeding on some low hills at no great 
distance, and as there were no lambs among the 
lot, we supposed that this was a band of rams, but 
we had not time to reach them before dark. 

We were just about to return to camp when 
Hunter saw glistening in the sun among the thick 
alders, just above the timber line, the massive 
antlers of a moose. There was no time to be lost 
if we meant to come up with him, and so my man 
and I raced the entire way through the woods, and 
then up the steep ascent, but failed to reach him. 

When I started on this hunt I had a thorough 
understanding with Hunter and my native that no 
one was to carry a rifle but myself, for I was deter- 
mined not to allow my natives to molest the game. 
Indians do not like to wander through the forests 

211 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

without a gun, and my native had lately borrowed 
a rifle from one of Blake's men, but I insisted 
upon his leaving it at our base of supplies. 

That afternoon, as Hunter and I started from 
camp, we sent the native back to the lake to bring 
us more provisions. He told us that he had no 
sooner reached the shore than he had heard a 
splash in the water near him, and looking up had 
seen a large moose swimming across to a neck of 
land at no great distance. He described this moose 
as at times being completely submerged by the 
weight of his antlers, and said that he had ap- 
parently great difficulty in swimming. 

This temptation was too great for Lawroshka, 
and, as his rifle was at hand, he pushed off in the 
boat, and coming up close to the moose, shot him 
just as he was leaving the water. He offered to 
give me the head, and seemed greatly surprised 
when I refused It, and told him I did not wish to 
bring out any trophies which I had not shot 
myself. I was sorry to learn that some men who 
have hunted in this region did not hesitate to 
class among their trophies the heads which had 
been shot by their men. 

I went to sleep that night with the expectation 
of a fair day and good sport on the morrow, but 
woke next morning to find it raining hard. Since 

212 



Hunting the Giant Moose 

reaching our hunting grounds on the 22d wf 
August, we had had only five pleasant days, and 
three of these were used up in marching from one 
camp to another. It was now raining so hard 
that I determined not to hunt, and turned in 
among my blankets with my pipe, but after a time 
this failed to satisfy me, and by 1 1 o'clock Hunter 
and I decided that even a thorough wetting was 
preferable to doing nothing. 

The five sheep which we had seen the evening 
before were still in view from our camp. One 
bunch of three lay in a commanding position on an 
open hillside, and were unapproachable, but the 
other two had left the main mountain range and 
were feeding on one of the outlying foothills. 
These offered an excellent chance, and Hunter and 
I started in their direction. 

Nothing so thoroughly wets one as passing 
through thick underbrush which Is ladened with 
raindrops, and we were both soon drenched, but 
we were now quite used to this discomfort, and 
had expected It. 

After coming out above timber, we reached the 
belt of alders through which we were working up- 
ward, when one of the sheep appeared upon the 
rugged sky-line some half mile above us. The 
glasses showed that he was a young ram with a 

213 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

head not worth shooting, but as his mate followed, 
we could see at a glance that his horns made the 
full turn, and were well up to the standard that 
I had set. 

The smaller one soon wandered down the hill 
to our left, but the old fellow was more wary, and 
kept to the rocky summit. We gradually worked 
nearer and nearer as his head was turned, or as he 
slowly fed behind some rocks. In this way we had 
almost reached a dip in the hillside which would 
hide us from view until I could approach near 
enough for a shot, when the ram suddenly ap- 
peared on the sky-line above. We both crouched 
to the ground and kept perfectly still, while he 
stood in bold relief against the clouds intently gaz- 
ing in all directions. For almost a half hour he 
never moved, except to slowly turn his head. It 
was evident that he was restless, and missed his 
young companion which had wandered away. 
Then he gradually moved off and sank behind a 
rock, and as Hunter and I had seen his hindquar- 
ters disappear last, we knew he was lying down, 
for a sheep goes down on his front knees first. 
This was our chance, and we hastened to take ad- 
vantage of it. In fact, Hunter had crossed the last 
open and I was half way over, when the ram sud- 
denly appeared again on the crest of the hill, and 

214 



Hunting the Giant Moose 

by his side was his young companion. Again I 
dropped to the ground, while the sheep gazed 
down at me. I was almost tempted to take the 
shot, for the distance was now not over 400 yards, 
and I had killed several sheep at this range. But 
hoping that they had not made me out, I kept per- 
fectly still. I could see Hunter crouching behind 
a bush a short distance ahead, and soon he 
beckoned. I now looked up only to find that the 
sheep had vanished. 

As I was wearing a dark green shooting suit, I 
do not think they quite made me out, but their sus- 
picions were aroused, and they headed for the 
main range of mountains. In order to reach this 
they would be obliged to cross nearly half a mile 
of open tableland. We hastened after them, and 
soon saw the rams, as we had expected, heading 
for the other hills. We yet hoped to stalk them 
when they had reached the level, for they had not 
been greatly alarmed, and were going leisurely 
along, now and again stopping to munch some of 
their favorite black moss from the rocks. On 
reaching the last hill they seemed to change their 
minds, for after gazing in all directions they lay 
down in an absolutely unapproachable position. 

Hunter and I were caught on a bald hillside ex- 
posed to a biting north wind, with no chance of a 

215 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

nearer approach without being seen. Finally, as a 
last resort, we determined upon a drive. 

While I lay perfectly still, Hunter advanced 
boldly across the open in a big circle, getting be- 
tween the hill and the main range. When the 
rams' attention was fixed on him, I cautiously 
worked back and around, taking up a position 
which commanded the ridge over which the sheep 
had just gone. When Hunter had got between 
them and the other mountains, he began to ap- 
proach. The rams now sprang to their feet, and 
evidently fully realized their dangerous position. 
They came, as we had expected, to the other end 
of the range from where I had taken my stand, 
but seemed reluctant to go back further on the iso- 
lated foothills. 

It was too far for an accurate shot, and I 
waited, hoping for a better chance. As Hunter 
now worked up over the summit, the sheep broke 
back below him, and in another second would have 
had a clear field across the flat to the main range. 
Running up as quickly as the nature of the ground 
would permit, I lessened the distance some fifty 
yards, and, just as they were about to disappear 
from view, I fired twice, carefully aiming at the 
larger sheep, which I knew to be the big ram. 

There was a strong wind blowing, and accurate 

216 



Hunting the Giant Moose 

shooting at such a long distance was out of the 
question, so I must regard it as an exceptionally 
lucky shot which broke his leg. 

Hunter now signaled me to continue around the 
hill, and I soon came upon the old fellow lying 
down. I seated myself well within range, intend- 
ing to catch my breath before shooting, when he 
suddenly sprang to his feet and bounded down the 
hill. I fired and missed, and started in pursuit. 
Although a sheep with a broken leg finds it hard to 
go up hill over rough ground, it is surprising how 
fast they can go down hill or across the open. 

When this ram came to the base of the moun- 
tain he started in a straight line across the table- 
land, and led me a long chase before I ran him 
down and shot him. He carried quite a pretty 
head, measuring 13^ inches around the butts and 
32 inches along the curve. 

I had now reached the limit I had set on sheep, 
and although I saw some later, I did not go after 
them. 

It stormed hard all that night, and we woke the 
next morning to another wet and dismal day. I, 
therefore, determined to remain in camp, and was 
mending my much-worn knickerbockers by the fire 
when a moose was sighted on the mountain above 
timber, making for the thick belt of alders. He 

217 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

was soon hidden from view, and as we could not 
see that he passed through any of the open patches 
lower down, we hoped that he had chosen this 
secure retreat to lay up in. 

The rain was coming down in torrents, but the 
bull carried a large and massive pair of antlers, 
and as I did not want to allow a chance to go by, 
Hunter and I were soon in pursuit. We circled 
well around in order to get the wind, and then 
forced our way through the heavy underbrush for 
some hours until we finally came to the belt of 
alders where we had last seen him. I now climbed 
a tree at the edge of the timber, hoping that from 
a lofty position I should be able to locate him, but 
met with no success. 

It was now my intention to take a stand upon 
the hillside above timber, hoping that the moose 
would show himself toward evening, but in our 
wet clothes we were soon too chilled to remain in- 
active. As a last resort. Hunter forced his way 
back into the alders, while I kept in the open 
above. After going some distance my man turned 
to the right for the purpose of driving him out in 
my direction, but our hard and disagreeable hunt 
was to no purpose, and we returned to camp just 
before dark, having passed a wetter and more un- 
comfortable day than any yet. 

218 



Hunting the Giant Moose 

Both Hunter and I thought this was the same 
bull which we had twice seen before, as he carried 
rather an unusual head, and had come from the 
same direction and to the same place. 

The next day it rained even harder, and the 
clouds were so low that we could not see the moun- 
tain side, and therefore had no temptation to leave 
camp. My patience was by this time nearly ex- 
hausted, for the continual rain was very depress- 
ing, and detracted much from the pleasure of be- 
ing in such a grand game country. 

About noon I was sitting before the fire when 
Lawroshka went to the lake, only some ten steps 
away, for a pail of water. Here he saw a bull 
moose standing on the other side. He beckoned 
to me, and I seized my rifle and cautiously ap- 
proached the native. The moose offered an easy 
shot at 250 yards, and my first bullet rolled him 
over. His head was disappointing, but it is often 
difficult to tell the size of a moose's antlers when 
they are half hidden in the trees. 

We woke next morning to the usual dismal sur- 
roundings, and remained in camp all that day. 
Late that afternoon the fog lifted and we saw 
the same large moose in his accustomed place 
among the alders, but it was too late in the day to 
try for him. 

2ig 



American Big Game in its Haunt 

That night the wind veered tO' the west, and 
just as I was about to turn in, the rain stopped and 
a few stars shone faintly in the heavens. The 
weather had been so constantly bad that even these 
signs failed to cheer me, and I had decided that 
we would break camp the next day no matter what 
the conditions might be. But the morning (Sep- 
tember 22) opened bright and clear, with the first 
good frost in two weeks. We were most anxious 
for a cold snap, for the leaves were still thick upon 
the trees, which made it next to impossible to see 
game in the woods at any distance. 

After breakfast we shouldered our packs and 
were soon on the march, expecting to reach our 
permanent quarters in the moose range before 
noon, and have the afternoon to hunt. Bright 
days had been so rare with us that we meant to 
make the most of this one. 

The heavy rains had flooded the woods, and the 
deep worn game trails that we followed were half 
full of water, while the open meadows and tundra 
that we occasionally crossed were but little better 
than miniature lakes. We had made about half of 
our march and my pack had just begun to grow 
doubly heavy from constant floundering around in 
the mire, when we came out into a long and nar- 
row meadow. There were a few dwarf spruce at 



Hunting the Giant Moose 

our end, but the rest of the small opening was 
free of underbrush. 

Hunter was leading and I was close behind with 
Stereke at heel, while the native was a few steps 
further back. I had noticed my dog a short time 
before sniffing the air, and was therefore keeping 
a constant watch on all sides, hoping that we might 
come upon game, but little expecting it, when sud- 
denly I caught sight of a large bull moose stand- 
ing in the middle of the opening. He was about 
300 yards away, and almost directly down wind. 
,1 do not see how he could have failed to get 
our scent, and he must have been indifferent to us 
rather than alarmed. 

My first thought was of Stereke. I knew that 
he would break at the sight of game, and realized 
for the hundredth time my mistake in bringing a 
bear dog into the moose range. Quickly giving 
him to the native to hold, I dropped my pack and 
was instantly working my way toward the moose. 
I had got to within rather less than 200 yards 
when I saw the moose turn his head and look in 
my direction. A nearer approach was impossible, 
so I gave him at once two shots, and at the second 
he fell. 

My dog, having bitten himself free from the 
native, made for the moose, and savagely attacked 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

his haunches. Seeing that the bull was trying to 
regain his feet, I gave him another shot, and run- 
ning up drove off the dog. 

Now, for the first time, I had a good chance to 
see my trophy. I knew that it was a good head, 
but hardly expected such large and massive antlers. 
They were malformed and turned in, or the spread 
would have been considerai)ly larger, but even 
then they went over sixty inches, with forty-four 
well defined points. I am quite sure that this was 
the same bull that we had seen so often among the 
alders, and which I had twice before unsuccess- 
fully stalked. 

Our march was delayed until we skinned out the 
head, cleaned the scalp, and hung the meat in some 
near-by trees for future use. It was therefore late 
that afternoon when we reached our new camp. 
We now settled ourselves comfortably, for we 
meant to stay in these quarters for the remainder 
of the hunt. 

The next week my friend Blake joined me, and 
we scoured the country around this camp most dili- 
gently, but with no further success. Daily we 
came upon cows and small bulls, but it seemed as 
if all the large males had left the neighborhood. 
Stamp holes and unmistakable signs of the rut- 
ting season were found everywhere, but with the 



Hunting the Giant Moose 

most careful hunting I was unable to get an- 
other shot. 

There were a few bull moose in the dense 
woods, but not a sufficient number to warrant the 
hope of my getting another head such as I had 
already shot. At this time of the year moose arc 
such restless animals, and are so constantly on the 
move that it is not difficult to distinguish their 
presence. 

I had now hunted this entire range most thor- 
oughly, and was reluctantly forced to the conclu- 
sion that there were not sufficient signs to warrant 
my remaining another month. I talked the matter 
over with my friend, and told him that if he cared 
to wait until the next monthly steamer we could 
combine our forces and start into a new country 
which we knew was good; but Blake did not want 
to delay his departure so long, and as he now de- 
cided to return to the coast, I made up my mind to 
go out with him, take the steamer to Seattle, and 
thence go to British Columbia, where I would 
finish my long hunt by a trip after Rocky Moun- 
tain sheep. 

Shortly after this we broke camp and started 
back to Cook Inlet, which we reached October 2. 
A few days later the steamer arrived, and that 
same night I was on my way from Alaska. 

223 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

Unfortunately ,"^ my hunting for the year was 
over, for on my arrival at Seattle I found that I 
had been too much pulled down by the hard work 
upon the hills to make it wise for me to go into 
British Columbia.^ 

J as, H. Kidder, 



224 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home. 



In 1 90 1 the opportunity came to me to make a 
trip to the island which the Kadiak bear inhabits, 
and to become shghtly acquainted with this largest 
of all carnivora. My companion was A. W. Mer- 
riam, of Milton, Mass. 

We were under great obligations to Dr. C. Hart 
Merriam, of the Biological Survey, Washington, 
who, before we left home, gave us valuable infor- 
mation about the large game of Alaska. He told 
us of investigations which might prove of scien- 
tific value, and helped us to place our trip on a 
much broader base than a mere shooting expedi- 
tion. One of the pleasantest features of such a trip 
was to see how freely information came in from all 
sides from those who could help in rounding out 
our work. 

In order to find the Alaskan bears in their best 
pelage one must be on the ground in April, and this 
made it necessary for us to sail from Seattle April 
I, on the Pacific Steam Whaling Company's boat. 
Excelsior. Seattle proved a very good outfitting 

225 



American Big Game In Its Haunts 

place, and before sailing we had safely stowed 
away below, in waterproof canvas bags, the provi- 
sions necessary to last us three months, in the most 
condensed and evaporated form. 

Most of our fellow passengers were miners. 
One of them interested me particularly. He was a 
Finn, one of the pioneer white hunters in the 
Aleutian country, and his drawn face and stoop- 
ing shoulders told the tale of trails too long 
and packs too heavy. I passed much time with 
him, and learned a good deal about the habits of 
the big, brown, barren bear, and his methods of 
fighting when hard pressed. 

Our first Alaskan port was Hunter's Bay, Prince 
of Wales Island, interesting because here is Clin- 
con, one of the old settlements of the Haida In- 
dians, famed for their wonderful totem poles, 
which tell In striking symbolic language the family 
histories of the tribe. There were many good 
faces among these people, and we asked ourselves 
and others the puzzling question, are they Aztecs, 
New Zealanders, or Japanese in origin? Among 
these people families with the same totem pole may 
not intermarry. An old man, the special wood 
carver of the tribe, does wonderful work. 

An offshoot of the tribe inhabits Annette Island, 
under the kindly governorship of an old priest 

226 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

named Duncan. At first he founded his colony on 
the mainland, in British territory, but was there so 
hampered by rehgious rules that, with almost all 
his followers, he moved to Annette, where he is 
still beloved by the natives, to whom he has taught 
right living and many valuable arts of civilization. 
We kept the inland route until Icy Straits took 
us away from Glacier Bay, and out into the 
open ocean. Early the next morning Yakutat 
came into view, and our boat was quickly sur- 
rounded by canoes filled with Indians, their wives, 
and woven baskets. These natives, supposed to 
belong to the Tlinkits, were distinctly less ad- 
vanced than the Haida Indians. 

In Yakutat we thought we were lucky In buying 
three Siwash bear dogs, but were not long in dis- 
covering our mistake. One of the dogs was so 
fierce we had to shoot him. Another was wild and 
ran away at the first opportunity, and the "last of 
• the Siwash," though found wanting in every hunt- 
ing instinct, had a kindly disposition and staid with 
us. We could not bring ourselves to the shooting 
point. Finally we found a Creole, who kept a 
store In a remote village on Kadiak Island, willing 
to take him off our hands. 

The sight of the massive snow face of Mt. St. 
Ellas, rising 18,002 feet above the immense 

227 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

stretches of the Malaspina glacier, called to mind 
the successful Abruzzi expedition, which reached 
the top of this mountain a few years ago. Look- 
ing at the rough sides of the grand old mountain, 
more impressive than any snow peak in Europe, 
one unconsciously plans an attack, as the climbing 
instinct Is aroused. 

Abruzzi has taken Mt. St. Ellas out of the field 
of the mountain climber looking for new peaks, 
but a glance at the map shows us Mt. Logan, 
19,000 feet, backing up Mt. St. Ellas from the 
north, and Mt. McKinley, 20,000 feet, the highest 
known peak we have, placed nearer the center of 
the big peninsula. These should now claim the 
attention of some good mountaineer, with time and 
money at his command. They demand both. 

We did not fail to inquire at Yakutat about that 
rare animal, the blue or St. Ellas bear, and were 
told that two or three skins were secured every 
year. I was later much disappointed in being un- 
able to return to this coast early enough in the year 
to look up this bear, which has never been killed 
by a white man, and as its skull has never been 
brought in by the Indians, It remains practically 
unknown. 

The island of Kayak, the next calling place for 
boats, played a very important part In the early 

228 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

history of Alaska. This is the first land that 
Bering sighted, and where he landed after the 
memorable voyage of his two boats, the St. Peter 
and St. Paul, from Kamtschatka. 

The early Russian adventurers of this part of 
the world have, it seems, been lost sight of, and 
have not had justice done them. The names of 
the Dane Bering, the Russians Shelikoff and 
Baranoff, should mean to us something more than 
the name of a sea, strait or island. A man who 
fitted out his expedition in Moscow, carried much 
of the building material for his two boats across 
Siberia to the rough shores of Kamtschatka, and 
sailed boldly eastward, deserves our warmest ad- 
miration. Bering never reached home. He died 
on the return voyage, and was buried on the small 
island of the Commander group which bears his 
name. The .story of the expedition is one of ex- 
treme hardship and of splendid Russian courage. 

At Orca we were transferred to the Newport, 
with Captain Moore in command, and, as on the 
Excelsior, everything was done for our comfort. 
We looked with envious eyes on Montague Island 
as we passed it in Prince William Sound, for we 
were told that the natives avoid fishing and shoot- 
ing here, claiming that the big Montague brown 
bear are larger and fiercer than any others. 

229 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

Our boat made a brief call at Homer, in Cook 
Inlet, one of the starting points for the famous 
Kenai shooting grounds. This inlet was named 
for the renowned voyager, who hoped that it 
would furnish a water passage for him to Hud- 
son's Bay. 

The trees stop at Cook Inlet, there being only 
a few on the western shore. To the south the 
wooded line intersects the Kadiak group of islands, 
and we find the northeastern part of Kadiak, as 
well as the whole of Wood and Afognak, except 
the central portion of the last, well covered with 
spruce. 

The absence of forests makes it often possible 
to see for miles over the country, and explains why 
the Barren Grounds of Alaska offer such won- 
derful opportunities for bear hunting. There are 
bears all along the southern coast of the peninsula, 
but in the timber there, as elsewhere, the bears 
have all the best of it. 

On leaving Cook Inlet, we kept a southerly 
course through the gloomy Barren Islands which 
mark the eastern boundary of the much-dreaded 
Shelikoff Straits, and early one morning passed 
Afognak, and made Wood Island landing, where 
we were most hospitably received by the North 
American Fur Company's people. Wood Island^ 

230 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

about 1^/2 miles from Kadiak, is small and well 
covered with spruce. It has some two hundred 
people, for the most part natives, and under Rus- 
sian rule was used for a huge ice-storing plant. 
Kadiak Island, lOO miles by 30, is thickly studded 
with mountains, and extremely picturesque, with 
the white covering of early spring, as we found it, 
or when green with heavy grass dotted with wild 
flowers in July. 

The Kadiak group looks as if it might have 
fallen out of Cook Inlet, and one of the native 
legends tells us that once the Kadiak Islands were 
so near the Alaskan shore that a mammoth sea 
otter, while trying to swim through the narrow 
straits, got wedged between the rocks, and his tre- 
mendous struggles to free himself pushed the 
islands out into their present position. The sea otter 
and bear have always been most intimately con- 
nected with the lives of the Kadiakers, and have 
exercised a more important influence on their char- 
acters than any of their surroundings except the 
sea. It is no wonder, then, that the natives en- 
dowed these animals with a strength and size which 
easily takes them into the realm of mythology. 
The sea otter being nearly extinct, the bear is now 
made to shoulder all the large stories, and, strong 
as he is, this is no light burden. 

231 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

The Kadiak coast line is roughly broken by deep 
bays, running inland from a half mile to fifteen 
or twenty miles. Some are broad, others narrow, 
but all are walled in by serrated, mountainous 
sides, much resembling the fjords of Norway. 
The highest peaks are about 4,000 feet. 

The portions of Kadiak Island uncovered by 
spruce and the barren lands of the mainland, are 
not absolutely devoid of trees or bushes. Often 
there is a considerable growth of cottonwood trees 
along the bottom lands of the streams, and large 
patches of alder bushes are common, so that when 
the leaves are well out, one's view of the bottoms 
and lower hillsides is much obscured. The snow- 
fall must be heavy on the upper reaches of the 
mountains, as there are great white patches to be 
seen well into the summer time. The climate is 
not what one would expect, unless he should look at 
the map, and note the warm Kuro Si wo (Japan 
current) sweeping along the southern Alaskan 
coast. Zero weather is uncommon, and except for 
the great rainfall the island is a very comfortable 
place of existence; existence, because that is the 
limit reached by most of the people. The few con- 
nected with the mission and the two fur companies 
are necessarily busy people, the latter especially so 
on steamer days, but a deep, unbroken peaceful- 

232 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

ness permeates the Island and its people; it is a 
place so apart that outside happenings awaken but 
little interest, and time Is not weighed In the 
balance. Some of the rare old Kadiak repose 
seems to have come down to the present people 
from the time when LIsiansky first visited the 
Island and found the natives sitting on their mud 
houses, or on the shore, gazing into space, with 
apparent satisfaction. 

On the other hand, if there Is any sailing, fish- 
ing or shooting to be done, you will find the 
Kadiakers keen enough, and in trying situations 
they will command your respect, and will quite 
reverse your impression of them, gathered in the 
village life. The Eskimo inhabitants of the old 
times are gone, and the population Is now made 
up of Russians, Creoles (part Russian and part 
Aleut), and a handful of Americans. 

The natives are good-natured but not pre- 
possessing In looks or cleanly. They live In dwell- 
ings kept very hot, and both men and women Injure 
themselves by Immoderate indulgence in the banya, 
a small Turkish bath, often attached to the bara- 
baras, or native huts. It Is made like a small bara- 
bara, except there is no smoke hole, has a 
similar frame, Is thatched with straw, and can be 
made air-tight. The necessary steam is furnished 

233 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

by pouring water on stones previously heated 
very hot. 

The women are frail and many die of consump- 
tion. When once sick, they appear to have no 
physical or mental resistance. They must be at- 
tractive, however, as there is a considerable popu- 
lation of white men here who have taken native 
wives. From a condition of comparative wealth, 
eight or ten years ago, when fur was plenty and 
money came easily, and was as promptly spent on 
all sorts of unnecessary luxuries, these people are 
now rapidly coming down to salmon, codfish and 
potatoes. When a native wants anything, he will 
sell whatever he owns for it, even to his rifle or 
wife. They almost all belong to the Greek 
Church, the Russians, when we bought Alaska, 
having reserved the right to keep their priests in 
the country. 

The baidarka, the most valuable possession of 
the native in a country so cut up by waterways that 
little traveling is done by land, deserves a word. 
These are trusted in the roughest water more than 
any other craft, except the largest. A trip from 
Kadiak to Seattle in a baidarka is in fact on record. 
With a light framework of wood, covered, bottom 
and deck, excepting the hatches, with the skin of 
the hair seal, it is lighter than any other canoe, 

234 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

pliable, but very staunch, and works its way over 
the waves more like a snake than a boat. The lines 
are such that friction is done away with, and driven 
through the water by good men, it is the most 
graceful craft afloat. It has a curious split prow, 
so made for ease In lifting with one hand, and may 
have one, two, or three hatches, according to its 
size. The paddles used are curiously narrow and 
pointed. 

What still remains unexplained Is the native 
one-sided method of paddling; that Is to say, in a 
two-hatch baldarka, both natives make six or seven 
short strokes on one side together, and then change 
to the other side. An absolutely straight course is 
thus Impossible, but the Aleut Is a creature of 
habit, and smiles at all new suggestions. 

In the canoe Is plenty of room for provisions 
and live stock. I speak of the latter because a 
native will often carry his wife, children, and dog 
inside a one-hatch baldarka while he paddles. 

Water Is kept out of the hatches by the kam- 
laykas which the natives wear. This Is a long 
jacket made of bears' intestines, very light and 
water tight, and when the neck and sleeve bands 
are made fast, and the skirts secured about the 
hatch with a thong, man and canoe alike are dry as 
a chip. 

235 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

In the early days, Shelikoff's severe rule in 
Kadiak actively encouraged the hunting instinct, 
and the first Russian fur post was established at 
St. Paul, named after one of Bering's boats, the 
present town of Kadiak, by far the largest village 
of the island, and situated on the eastern coast, 
opposite Wood Island. It is said that the Russians, 
after a few very prosperous years of indiscriminate 
slaughter, recognized the great importance of car- 
rying on the fur industry in a systematic man- 
ner, in order to prevent entire extinction of the 
game, and divided the lands and waters into large 
districts. They made laws, with severe penalties 
attached, and enforced them. Certain districts 
were hunted and trapped over in certain years. 
Fur animals were killed only when in good pelage, 
and the young were spared. In this way hunted 
sections always had considerable intervals in which 
to recover from attacks. 

A solitary sea otter skin hanging up in the fur 
company's store, at the end of the season, told us 
plainer than words that these animals, formerly 
so plentiful east of Kadiak Island, and along the 
coast of Cook's Inlet, were almost extinct. Two 
of our hunters were famous shots, and they liked 
to talk of the good old days, when sea otter and 
bear were plenty. One of them, Ivan, it is claimed, 

236 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

made $3,000 in one day. The amount paid a 
native is $200 or more for each sea otter pelt. 
They are much larger than a land otter, a good 
skin measuring six feet in length and three feet in 
width when split and stretched. 

When fishing is allowed from schooners, the 
natives leave Kadiak for the grounds early in May. 
Each schooner carries thirty or forty baidarkas 
and twice as many men. Otters are often 
found at some distance from shore, and can be 
seen only when the water is quiet. The natives 
prefer the bow and arrow to the .40-65 Winches- 
ters the company have given them, even claiming 
that otter are scarce because they have been driven 
from their old grounds by the noise of firearms. 
The bows, four feet long, are very stout, and 
strongly reinforced with cords of sinew along the 
back. The arrows, a little under a yard in length, 
are tipped with a well-polished piece of whalebone. 
A sharp and barbed piece of whale's tooth fits into 
a hole bored in the end of the bone, and a cord 
of considerable length is tied to the detachable 
arrow head, the other end of the cord being wound 
around and fastened to the middle of the shaft. 

The advantages of this arrow are obvious. 
When the game is struck, its struggles disengage 
the arrow head, and the shaft being dragged by the 

237 



American Big Game In its Haunts 

cord attached to its middle, soon tires the otter 
out. The seal spears, used for the finishing coup, 
are made in the same way, and in addition have at- 
tached to the long shaft a bladder, which contin- 
ually draws the animal to the surf ace. So expert are 
the natives, that, after shooting several arrows, 
they gather them all up together in one hand as 
they sweep by in a baidarka. The arrow is not 
sent straight to the mark, but describes a consider- 
able curve. Good bows are valued very highly, 
and on an otter expedition will not be swapped 
even for a rifle. 

On a favorable morning the baldarkas leave the 
schooners, and, holding their direction so as to 
describe a large fan, can view a good piece of 
water. A paddle held high in air shows that 
game has been sighted, and a large circle, perhaps 
a mile in circumference, Is at once formed around 
the otter, each baidarka trying to get In the first 
successful shot. To the man who first hits home 
belongs the skin, but as an otter can stay under 
water twenty minutes, and when rising for air ex- 
poses only his nose, a long and exciting chase 
follows. 

Some natives patrol the small Island shores, and 
during the winter make a good harvest picking up 
dead otters which have washed ashore. This hap- 

238 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

pens in winter, because it is during severest weather 
that the otter freezes his nose, which means death. 
The pelts from these frozen animals, however, 
bring only a small price. 

In earlier days nets were spread beneath the 
water around rocks shown by the hair rubbings to 
be resting places of otter. The method was often 
successful, as the poor beast swam over the trap in 
gaining his rock, but when leaving dove well below 
the surface, and was caught. This barbarous cus- 
tom, together with the netting of ducks in narrow 
passageways, has, fortunately, long been a thing 
of the past. 

In Kadiak Village, we met a Captain Nelson, 
the first man down from the north that spring, who 
had sledded from Nome to Katmai on Shelikoff 
Straits in two months. At Katmai he was held up 
several days, his men refusing to cross the straits 
until the local weather prophet, or astronom, as he 
is called, gave his consent. Seven hours of hard 
paddling carried them over the twenty-seven miles, 
the most treacherous of Alaskan narrows. 

These astronoms are relics of an interesting 
type, who formerly held firm sway over the natives. 
They are supposed to know much about the 
weather from reading the sunrises, sunsets, stars, 
moon and tides, and often sit on a hilltop for hours 

239 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

studying the weather conditions. They are still 
absolutely relied upon to decide when sea otter 
parties may start on a trip, and are looked up to 
and trusted as chiefs by the people of the villages 
in which they live. 

At Wood Island we heard of Messrs. Kidder 
and Blake, two other sportsmen from Boston, who 
had already left for their hunting grounds in 
Kaluda Bay. 

The spring was backward, and the bears still in 
their dens, but Merriam and I decided to take the 
North American Company's schooner Maksoutoff 
on its spring voyage around the island, when it 
carries supplies and collects furs from the natives. 
We were to sail as far as Kagulac, a small village 
on the south shore, and were here promised a 30- 
foot sloop by the company. We added to our 
equipment two native baidarkas for hunting and a 
bear dog belonging to an old Russian hunter, 
Walter Matroken. Tchort (Russian for Devil) 
looked like a cross between a water spaniel and a 
Newfoundland, and though old and poorly sup- 
plied with teeth, many of which he had lost during 
his acquaintance with bears, he proved a good 
companion, game In emergencies, and a splendid 
retriever. 

Our rifle and camera batteries were as follows: 
240 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

Merriam had a .45-70 and a .50-110 Winchester, 
both shooting half-jacketed bullets. My rifles 
were a .30-40 Winchester, a double .577, and a 
double .40-93-400, kindly lent me by Mr. S. 
D. Warren, of Boston, and on which I relied. 
Besides the pocket cameras and a small Goerz, I 
carried one camera with double lenses of 17 3^ -inch 
focus, and one with single lense of 30-inch focus. 
The last two were, of course, intended for animals 
at long range. 

Hoping to prove something in regard to the 
weight of the Kadiak bear, I brought a pair of 
Fairbanks spring scales, weighing up to 300 
pounds, and some water-tight canvas bags for 
weighing blood and the viscera. 

We selected two good men as hunters for the 
trip, Vacille and Klampe. 

On the second day out from Wood Island a 
storm came on, and though the Maksoutoff was 
staunch, we could not hold for our port, owing to 
the exposed coast, where squalls come sweeping 
without warning from the mountain tops, driving 
the snow down like smoke, the so-called "wollies." 
It was wild and wintry enough when we turned into 
the sheltered protection of Steragowan Harbor. 

A few mallards and a goose were here added to 
the ship's store next morning from the flats, and 

241 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

the weather clearing, we made Kaguiac, and found 
our sloop in good condition. In addition we took 
along an otter boat, a large rowboat, from here, 
as our baidarkas proved rather unseaworthy. Be- 
sides Mr. Heitman, the fur company's man, there 
was one other white settler in Kaguiac named 
Walch, who came to Kadiak twenty-seven years 
ago at the time of the first American military occu- 
pation, and though he had served in many an ex- 
citing battle in the Civil War, the Kadiak calm ap- 
pealed to him. He married, settled down among 
the natives contentedly, and has never moved since. 
This, curiously, is the case of many men who come 
to the North, after leading wandering and adven- 
turous lives. 

Unfavorable winds at Kaguiac delayed our sail- 
ing, so we passed the time in excursions after 
ptarmigans and mallards. We also secured here 
another native, a strong, willing worker, who knew 
the coast. 

The weather cleared suddenly, the wind shifting 
from northeast to northwest, and enabled us to 
make a run to our first good hunting ground in 
Windy Bay, a large piece of water five miles long 
by three wide, and surrounded by rock mountains 
covered with snow, the only bare ground to be seen 
at this time being on the low foothills, and in the 

242 



The Kadlak Bear and his Home 

sunny ravines. We made ourselves at home at the 
only good anchorage in a small cove with high 
crags on two sides and a ravine running off toward 
the east. 

The following morning — April 28 — opened 
bright and calm, and we were soon viewing the 
snow slopes with our glasses. Ivan, the new man, 
was the first to call our attention to a streak on a 
distant mountain side, and although perhaps 2^ 
miles away, we could make out, even with the 
naked eye, a deep furrow in the snow running 
down diagonally into the valley below, undoubtedly 
a bear road. I took a five-cent piece from my 
pocket, tossed for choice of shot, and lost to 
Merriam. 

Once on land, we found the going very bad, and 
often wallowed in the snow mid-thigh deep. Then 
was the time for snowshoes, which we had been 
told were unnecessary. Floundering along in this 
soft snow began to tell a Httle on the keenness of 
the party, when Vacille and Ivan, who were off on 
one side, suddenly waved, and hurrying on to them 
we were shown the bear far up the valley in some 
bushes. As he lay on his side in the snow he looked 
much like a cord of wood, and very large. The 
wind came quartering down the valley, and made 
a stalk difficult, so it was thought best to wait, as 



American Big Game in Its Haunts 

the bear would probably come down nearer the 
water in the evening. We watched nearly four 
hours, and during that time the bear made perhaps 
150 yards in all, crawhng, rolling over, lapping 
his paws, occasionally trying a somersault, and 
finally landing In a patch of alders. 

As night was upon us, we decided to chance the 
situation, and approached along a ridge on one 
side of the valley until almost above the bear. At 
this point Tchort, the dog, caught the scent, broke 
away, and raced down over the bluff out of sight. 
Almost immediately the bear appeared in the open 
200 yards away, legging as fast as he could in the 
snow, and headed for the hillside. Merrlam made 
a good shot behind the shoulder with his fifty. 
The bear fell, caught his feet again, and was in 
and over a small brook, leaving a bloody road be- 
hind him, which Tchort was quick in following. 
The dog was soon nipping the bear's heels, and giv- 
ing him a good deal of trouble. Up the side of the 
hill they raced, Merriam firing when the dog gave 
him opportunity. The bear, angry and worried, 
suddenly whipped around and made for the dog, 
which in the soft snow at such close quarters could 
not escape. But Tchort, a born fighter, accepted 
the only chance and closed In. He disappeared 
completely between the forelegs of the bear, and 

244 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

we felt that all was over. To our great wonder 
in a few seconds he crawled out from beneath the 
hindquarters of his enemy, and engaged him again. 
One more shot and the bear lay quiet. The skin 
was a beauty — dark brown, with a little silvering 
of gray over the shoulders, without any rubbed 
spots, such as are common on bears only just out 
of their dens. Some brush was thrown over the 
bear, and we rowed back to the sloop, well con- 
tent. The next day, which was foggy and rainy, 
was spent in getting off the skin, measuring and 
weighing the animal piecemeal, and carrying all 
back to the sloop. 

Contrary to expectation, the bear was found 
to be still covered with a thin layer of fat, even 
after his long hibernation. Before weighing, our 
men, who had killed some thirty bear among them, 
said that this one was two-thirds as large as any 
they had seen. 

The measurements and weights were as follows : 
Height at shoulder, about 4 ft. Length in 
straight line from nose to root of tail, 6 ft. 8 in. 
Total weight, 625 lbs. Weight of middle piece, 
260 lbs. Weight of skull (skin removed), 20 lbs. 
Weight of skin, 80 lbs. The right forearm 
weighed 50 lbs., and the left 55. This supports 
the theory that a bear is left-handed. Right hind- 

245 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

quarter, 60 lbs. ; left hindquarter, 60 pounds. The 
stomach was filled with short alder sticks, not 
much chewed, and one small bird feather. Organic 
acids were present in the stomach, but no free 
hydrochloric for digestion of flesh. 

It was a great satisfaction to see that none of 
the bear was wasted, which fact brings up one very 
good trait of the Creole hunters. They dislike to 
go after bear into a district situated far from the 
coast, because in so rough a country it is almost 
impossible to get all the meat out. They sell the 
skin, eat the meat, and make the intestines into 
kamlaykas for baidarka work. 

April 30 a strong wind kept us from trying the 
head of the bay, and a short trip was made up into 
a low lying valley, near the sloop, but without 
results. 

Our men had already proved themselves good. 
Vacille was the best waterman and a good cook; 
Klampe the best hunter, and Ivan a glutton for all 
sorts of work. 

The underlying principle on which the Aleut 
hunter works was brought out on our short bear 
hunt. After sighting the game, he waits until he 
is sure of his wind, then takes a stand where the 
bear will pass close by, and shows himself a monu- 
ment of patience. Almost all the viewing is done 

246 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

from the water, a small hill near the shore being 
occasionally used for a lookout. They get up at 
daylight, and two men in a baidarka patrol both 
sides of a big bay, watching carefully for bear 
tracks on the mountain sides, as this is the surest 
indication of their presence. As soon as the bears 
come from their dens they always make a climbing 
tour, the natives claiming that this exercise is taken 
to strengthen them. Personally I believe the 
Kadiak bear has very good reasons for keeping 
on the move continually outside of his hibernating 
season. 

If the natives find no sign on their morning tour, 
they rest all day, perhaps taking a Turkish bath in 
a banya, which is not infrequently attached to the 
hunting barabara. Another trip of inspection is 
made again in the afternoon at four or five o'clock, 
as the bear usually lies up between nine and three. 
A bay is watched for several days in this way, and 
if nothing is seen the natives return to their village, 
or hunt the hair seal, which are still to be found in 
fair numbers, especially on Afognak Island. 

When you are with these men you must either 
conduct the shooting trip on your own lines or give 
yourself entirely into the native's hands, and do as 
he thinks best. You must leave him alone, and not 
bother him with many questions, and in any case 

247 



American Big Game In its Haunts 

you usually get Nish naiou ("I don't know") for 
answer. The native gives this reply without think- 
ing; it is so much easier. The most you can do is 
to cheer him on when luck is bad, as he Is easily 
discouraged and becomes homesick. 

During the bad weather that followed we had 
plenty of opportunity to use our Ingenuity In ex- 
tracting Information from our men on the subject 
of bear. 

It seems that the Kadiak bear hibernates, as a 
rule, from December to April, depending on the 
season somewhat, and the young are supposed to 
be born in March In the dens. Although the skins 
are good in the late fall, they are finest when the 
bear first comes out In early spring, as it Is then 
that the hide is thinnest and the hair longest. On 
the other hand, in summer, when the hair Is very 
thin, the hide becomes extremely thick and heavy; 
this condition changing again as fall comes on. 
The total amount of epidermis, in other words, 
does not vary so much as one would suppose, and 
whether the hide or the hair Is responsible for most 
of the weight depends on the time of year. 

When the animal leaves his den he finds food 
scarce, and has to go on the principle that a full 
stomach is better than an empty one, even if the 
Jilling is made of alder twigs. It is not long, how- 

248 



The Kadlak Bear and his Home 

ever, before green grass begins to sprout along the 
small streams, low down, and grass and the roots 
of the salmon berry bushes carry the bear along 
until the fish run. 

The running of the salmon varies, and the bears 
make frequent prospecting trips down the streams 
in order to be sure to be on hand for the first run, 
which usually occurs during the latter part of 
May. During the salmon season the bears have 
opportunity to fill themselves full every night, and 
put on a tremendous weight of fat in the late 
fall, when they become saucy and lazy, and more 
inclined to show fight. Berries — especially the 
salmon berry — help out the fish diet in summer 
time. As soon as salmon becomes their food the 
pelts deteriorate, but unless living near a red 
salmon stream, with shallow reaches, the bears do 
not get much fish diet until the second run early in 
July, so that fair skins are sometimes obtained even 
up to June 15, although by this time the hair is 
usually much faded in color. 

The bear makes a zigzag course down the 
salmon stream from one shallow rapid to another, 
standing immovable while fishing, and throwing 
out his catch with the left paw. The numerous 
fishing beds give a false idea of the number of bear 
present in a district, as it takes but a few days for 

249 



American Big Game In Its Haunts 

a single bear to cover the sides of a stream for a 
long distance with such places. One finds fish 
skeletons scattered all along a salmon stream, and 
it Is generally easy to tell whether a bear or eagle 
has made the kill. An eagle usually carries the 
whole fish away with him, leaving only scales be- 
hind. A bear, on the other hand, eats his fish 
where he catches him, preferring the belly and 
back, and usually discarding the skeleton, and 
always the under jaw. 

The Finn hunter whom I met on my way north, 
said he had seen an old cow bear when fishing with 
her cubs, rush salmon In toward the shore and scoop 
them out for the young. Generally they watch on 
a low bank, or In the shallow water, while fishing. 

During the rutting season, supposed to be In 
June, the female travels ahead, the male bringing 
up the rear to furnish protection fr«m that quarter. 
Then if one kills the female the male gives trouble, 
often charging on sight. 

The Finn thought that, as a rule, the cow bear 
comes on at a gallop and a bull rises on his hind 
legs when getting In close. When wounded the 
bear usually strikes the Injured spot, or If It Is a 
cow and cubs, the old one cuffs her young soundly, 
thinking them the cause of pain. The nose is the 
main source of protection, as, like all bears, these 

250 



The Kadlak Bear and his Home 

see badly, and being themselves very noisy, can de- 
pend little on their ears. 

My men declared that in the happy olden days, 
before bear skins were worth much — perhaps two 
dollars apiece — and the natives only killed one 
ocasionally for meat, families of bear could be seen 
in the daytime on the sunny sidehills. Now they 
are rarely abroad except in the early morning and 
late evening. The old crafty animals which have 
weathered all attacks for years, come down from 
the hills at night, and, after a hasty meal, make 
a quick retreat. When one of these big brutes is 
killed he is said to be a regular lead mine of native 
bullets. In all some thirty or forty bears are 
killed yearly on the Kadiak Islands, cubs not being 
spared; and unless a remedy is quickly applied, 
these splendid animals will soon be exterminated, 
and will become as rare as the giant sloth of Pata- 
gonia. Now that spring otter hunting is no longer 
worth while, and the natives have little to do until 
the middle of May, when they plant their potatoes, 
spring bear hunting is becoming popular. 

(The passing of the Kadiak bear is a sad subject 
lo think about. The few survivors of this magnifi- 
cent race are harried from bay to bay, as soon as 
they come out from their holes in the spring, and 
are given no quiet except in mid-summer. They 

251 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

are followed to their very dens in the fall by the 
keenest of hunters, and their only restful sleep is 
the long winter one. Fortunately some excellent 
game laws for Alaska have been passed, and by 
making a close season for several years, followed 
by severe restrictions, we may yet hope that the 
perpetual preservation of this grand brown bear 
will be assured on the Kadiak group, which, from 
its situation, fitly offers him, when well guarded, 
his best chance of making a successful stand against 
his enemies. 

The fact that the natives make a profit from the 
bear skins, and that his flesh furnishes them with 
food is not to be considered, as at the present rate 
of extermination there will soon be no bear left for 
discussion. 

The natives certainly could and should be helped 
out in their living, as competition in the fur trade 
of late has so exterminated fur-bearing animals 
that hunting and trapping bring them in little, and 
their diet is indeed low. One of my hunters during 
last fall only secured one bear, one silver gray fox, 
and two land otter. 

A good way to help out the food question, and 
compensate the native for his loss of bear meat, 
would be to transport a goodly number of Sitka 
deer to the three Islands, and allow them to multi- 

252 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

ply. There has been a Sitka deer on Wood 
Island for several years, and he has lived through 
the winters without harm, as his footprints scat- 
tered over the island testify. Afognak and Wood 
Island are especially suitable for such a purpose, 
being well wooded and furnishing plenty of winter 
food for deer in willows, alders and black birch. 
The clement winters make the plan feasible, and it 
ought not to be an expensive experiment. 

We had a very bad time of it on the night of 
April 30, which showed me what I had long felt, 
that the dangers of Kadiak were not centered in the 
bear, but in the tremendous wind blows and tide 
rips in its fjords. A strong wind came on from the 
east, and fairly howled through the ravine opposite 
our anchorage, catching our little sloop with full 
force. We could not change our position, as we 
occupied the only anchorage. Vacille, who had 
turned in, felt the anchor dragging, and we found 
ourselves being blown out into the large bay, where 
we could not have lived for any time in the big 
seas, and, should we continue to drag, our only 
chance was to try to beach her on a sand shore 
some half mile away. 

When the boat was not dragging she was wal- 
lowing in cross seas, and being hammered by the 
otter boat, which was difficult to manage. The 

253 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

anchors held firmly, much to our relief, and after 
a disagreeable night of watching we beat back to 
our mooring at the head of the little cove. The 
mountains being covered with fresh snow in the 
morning, there was nothing to do but eat and sleep. 

The bear meat improved with age, and hours of 
boiling rid it of its bitter flavor. The whole cabin — 
and its occupants — smelled of bear's grease. The 
thermometer registered 30. 

On May 2, as the wind was unsuitable for bear 
hunting, we made a photographing trip to a cliff 
across the bay, where two bald-headed eagles had 
built their nest. Merriam and I had a very inter- 
esting stalk with a camera. We landed near the 
cliff, and the eagles, becoming disturbed, flew away. 
The men were sent out in the boat, and we kept in 
hiding until signalled that the birds had quieted 
down. We gained the top of the cliff, a mere knife 
edge in places, where we worked our way along, 
straddling the rock. The birds had selected a 
splendid place, straight up from the water, where 
they had built their nest firmly into a bush on the 
side of the cliff. 

I stalked the eagle within about 75 feet and 
caught her with the camera, as she was leaving her 
nest. The earth forming the center of the nest 
was frozen and three eggs lay in a little hollow of 

254 



The Kadlak Bear and his Home 

hay on top. The big birds circled about us all the 
time, but did not offer to attack. Bald-headed 
eagles are very common on Kadiak, and are always 
found about the salmon streams later, during the 
run, being good fishermen. It seems they, of all 
the birds here, are the first to lay their eggs, and 
their young are the last to leave the nest. 

We secured some eagle eggs on these trips, of 
which we made several, and found the cliff nests 
much the easier to approach, as it was very difficult 
to get above nests built in trees. 

In connection with the eagle, the magpie should 
not be forgotten. Of these black and white birds 
there were many about, and there seemed to be a 
bond of sympathy between the widely separated 
species of marauders. Bold enough we knew the 
smaller bird to be, but to believe that he would 
actually steal an eagle's fish breakfast from under 
his very nose one must see the act. The eagle ap- 
peared to mind but little, occasionally pecking the 
thief away when he became offensive. 

The magpie, on the other hand, seemed to have 
a warm feeling for his big friend, and once at 
least we saw him flying about an eagle's nest and 
warning the old birds of our approach with his 
harsh cry. 

One good day among many bad ones showed no 
255 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

more bear signs, so we soaped the seams of the otter 
boat, which leaked badly, and set sail for Three 
Saints Bay, named after Shellkoff's ship. This 
proved to be a narrow piece of water running far 
inland, with snow-covered mountain sides, and by 
far the most beautiful fjord on the Island, 

There were no bear signs, however, and a favor- 
able wind carried us eastward toward Kaluda Bay, 
where Kidder and Blake were hunting. On our 
way we stopped at Steragowan, an interesting little 
village, bought a few stores, and secured some in- 
teresting stone lamps, and whale spears, with 
throwing sticks. 

Once in Kaluda Bay, we found Kidder's and 
Blake's barabara where they made headquarters, 
and their cook informed us that both sportsmen 
were many miles up the bay after bear. 

Several years ago there was a flourishing colony 
of natives at the entrance to Kaluda Bay, but now 
there are only two hunting barabaras, a broken 
down chapel, and a good-sized graveyard. The 
village prospered until one day a dead whale was 
reported not far from land. All the inhabitants 
gorged themselves on the putrid blubber, and they 
died almost to a man. 

The Kadlakers show a good deal of courage in 
whale hunting. With nothing but their whale 

256 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

spears tipped with slate, two men will run close 
up to a whale, drive two spears home with a throw- 
ing stick, and make off again. The slate is believed 
in some way to poison the animal, and he often 
dies within a short time. The natives go home, 
return in a few days, and, if lucky, find the whale 
in the same bay. Whales are plenty, and were 
sometimes annoying to us, playing too near our 
otter boat. On one occasion we tried a shot at one 
that was paying us too much attention, and per- 
suaded the big chap to leave us in peace. 

Bad weather held us fast several days, but we 
finally made the southeast corner of the island, and 
from there had good wind to Kadiak. On our way 
we passed Uyak, one of the blue fox islands. Rais- 
ing these animals for their fur has become a regular 
business, and when furs are high it pays well. The 
blue fox has been found to be the only one that 
multiplies well in comparative captivity, and he 
thrives on salmon flesh. 

At Wood Island, news came to us through pros- 
pectors, of a bear in English Bay, south of Kadiak 
village. This bay is w^ell known as a good bear 
ground, and at the end of the bay there are some 
huge iron cages weighing tons which were used as 
bear traps, some years ago, by men working for 
the Smithsonian Institution. 

257 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

We found bear tracks coming into the valley, 
down one mountain side, and leading out over the 
opposite mountain, and were obliged to return to 
Wood Island empty handed. 

Merriam now decided to return home on the 
next boat, and after a few days I started off for the 
north side of Kadiak in an otter boat fitted with 
sail, picking up on the way a white man, Jack 
Robinson, and a native hunter, Vacille, at Ozinka, 
a small village on Spruce Island. My men proved 
a good combination, but we were all obliged to 
work hard for two months before a bear was finally 
secured. 

We tried bay after bay, and were often held up, 
and for days at a time kept from good grounds by 
stormy weather and bad winds. The inability to 
do anything for long periods made these months 
the most wearing I have ever passed. Our little 
open boat went well only before the wind, but, as 
somebody has said, the prevailing winds in Alaska 
are head winds, and we spent many long hours at 
the oars. 

Although we had a good tent with us, we used, 
for the most part, the native hunting barabara for 
shelter. These are fairly clean and comfortable, 
and are found in every bay of any size. 

The natives inherit their hunting grounds, and 
258 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

are apparently scrupulous In observing each other's 
rights. In fact, it is dangerous to invade another 
man's trapping country, as one may spring a Klipse 
trap set for fox and otter, and receive a dangerous 
gash from the blade that makes these contrivances 
so deadly. 

On the way to the hunting grounds Vacille 
pointed out to us a cliff where he once had an ex- 
citing bear hunt. 

There were two hunters, and they were fortu- 
nate enough to locate an inhabited den In early 
spring. Two bears were killed through crevices 
In the rocks, but the men suspected there was still 
one Inside, and Vacille crawled in to make sure. 
He found himself in a fair sized chamber with a 
bear at the other end, and a lucky shot tumbled the 
animal at his feet. 

This story brought up others of bear hunting 
with the lance. Before firearms came Into com- 
mon use, boys were given lessons In fighting the 
bear with the lance, and became very expert at It. 
Their method was to approach a bear as closely 
as possible, without being seen, then show them- 
selves suddenly, and as the bear reared strike home. 
The lance was held fast by the native, and the bear 
was often mortally wounded by forcing the lance 
into himself In his struggles to reach his enemy. 

259 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

This class of native no longer exists on Kadiak, 
but it is said there is one famous old Aleut near 
Iliamna Lake on the mainland who scorns any but 
this method of hunting. 

High above the den where the three bears were 
killed was a scoop out of the cliff called the 
shaman's barabara. Here, before Russian times, 
the shamans or witches were buried, and here also 
were kept the masks used in certain ceremonial 
rites. The Russians removed the mummies and 
masks long ago. 

The shamans were considered oracles. It was 
claimed they could prevent a whale from swimming 
out of a bay by dragging a bag of fat, extracted 
from the dead body of a newly born infant, across 
the entrance. Their instructions were unfailingly 
obeyed, as it was supposed they could cause death 
as a punishment for their enemies. 

One evening at our first halting place beyond 
Ozinka, we found tracks in the snow on one side 
of our valley, and early in the morning came upon 
a two-year-old bear, not far from camp. The bear 
was grubbing about on the hillside, and we took 
our position so that he crossed us under a hundred 
yards. Unbeknown to me, and just as I was about 
to fire, my native gave the caw of a raven to hold 
the bear up. He whipped around and faced us, 

260 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

my bullet entering the brush on one side of him. 
Off he rushed into the woods with the dog after 
him. I followed, and on coming out into a clear- 
ing saw the dog being left far behind on the moun- 
tain side. Old Tchort was not in condition. This 
was sad and illustrated the fact that it is sometimes 
best to be alone. 

We next tried Kaguiac Bay and here spent 
many days. Two bears had been killed by the 
natives near the barabara where we camped, and 
there was plenty of sign. 

Before sunrise we were watching from a good 
position, and it was scarcely light when Vacille 
made out a big bear, two miles or more away. He 
was traveling the snow arete of the mountain 
opposite, and trying to find a good descent into our 
valley. One could see the huge body and head 
plainly with the naked eye against the sky-line as 
he made his way rapidly through the deep snow. 
Finally he found a place somewhat bare of snow 
and gave us a splendid exhibition of rock climbing. 
It took little time for him to get down into the 
alders, where he apparently dropped asleep. To 
our astonishment he woke up about lo o'clock and 
worked down toward the bottom land. We stalked 
him in the woods and alders, which were very 
thick, within 300 yards, and here I should have 

261 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

risked a shot at his hindquarters showing up brown 
against the hillside, and seemingly as large as a 
horse. 

We chanced a nearer approach, though the wind 
was treacherous, and coming up to a spot where 
we could have viewed him found the monster had 
decamped. All attempts to locate him again were 
fruitless. 

The bear paths around this bay were a very in- 
teresting study. They are hammered deep into the 
earth, and afford as good means of traveling as 
the New Brunswick moose paths. 

Sometimes instead of a single road we have a 
double one, the bear using one path for the legs 
of each side of his body. Again, on soft mossy 
side hills, instead of paths we find single footprints 
which have been used over and over, and made 
into huge saucers, it being the custom of the bear 
to take long strides on the side hills, and to step 
into the impressions made by other animals which 
had traveled ahead of it. 

The red salmon were beginning to run, and some 
fishermen in another part of the bay supplied us, 
'from time to time, from their nets. Especially good 
were the salmon heads roasted. 

Bear sign failed, and Afognak Island, where 
Vacille shot and trapped, had been so much talked 

262 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

about, that I determined to see it for myself, and 
with a good wind we rowed across the straits and 
sailed twelve miles into the island by Kofikoski 
Bay. 

Scattered along up the bay were small islands, 
and these furnished us with a good supply of gulls' 
eggs, which lasted many days. 

The Afognak coast is heavily wooded with 
spruce, while a large plateau in the interior is 
almost barren, and gave good opportunity for 
using the glasses. 

During several days at the head of Kofikoski 
Bay nothing was seen, so we packed up and crossed 
a large piece of the island by portages and a chain 
of lakes, where our Osgood boat was indispensable. 
The country crossed was like a beautiful park of 
meadows, groves and lakes, and one could scarcely 
T)elieve it was uncultivated. 

The Red Salmon River of Seal Harbor, to 
which we were headed, could not fail us, for bear 
could scoop out the salmon in armfuls below the 
lower falls, so Vacille said, and he was honest, and 
now as keen as anything while traveling his own 
hunting grounds. 

For a whole week a northeast storm blew 
directly toward the bay, and kept us in camp. It 
was fishing weather, however, and my fly-rod, with 

263 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

a Parmachenee belle, kept us well supplied with 
steelheads and speckled trout, which were plenti- 
ful in the clear waters of a wandering trout brook 
running through a meadow below the camp. 

A calm evening came finally, and we paddled 
down the last lake, some three miles, to the famous 
pool. 

There were the salmon swarming below the fall, 
and many constantly in the air on their upward 
journey, but the eagles perched high on the dark 
spruces, closing in the swirling water, were all they 
had to fear. There were no bears and no fresh 
bear signs. It was an ideal spot, this salmon pool, 
but a feast for the eyes only, as the red salmon will 
not rise to a fly. Even Tchort looked disconsolate 
on our track back to Ozinka. 

About July lo there is usually a run of dog sal- 
mon, and not much later another of humpbacks. 
The dog salmon grow to be about twice as large 
as the red salmon, and often weigh 12 pounds. 
They are much more sluggish than the red fish, 
and as they prefer the small shallow streams, be- 
come an easy prey for the bear. The humpback 
fish are fatter and better eating even than the red 
salmon, but are somewhat smaller. 

The red fish never ascend a stream which has 
not a lake on its upper waters for spawning. The 

264 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

dog and humpback, on the contrary, are not so par- 
ticular, and are found almost everywhere. In Sep- 
tember there Is a run of silver salmon, which, like 
the red salmon, will only swim a stream with a lake 
at Its head. They run up to 40 pounds, and the 
bears grow fat on them before turning Into winter 
quarters. The skeletons of this big fish, cleaned 
by bear, arc found along every small stream run- 
ning from the lakes. 

The large canneries, like the one at Karluk, on 
Karluk River, near the western end of Kadiak, 
put up only the red salmon. They are not nearly 
as good eating as the humpback or silver salmon, 
but are red, and this color distinction the market 
demands. The catches at Karluk run up into the 
tens of thousands, and one thinks of this with 
many misgivings, remembering the fate of the sea 
otter and bear. Good hatcheries are constantly 
busy, keeping up the supply, but It appears that 
though one In every ten thousand of these fish Is 
marked before being set free, so far as known no 
marked fish have ever been captured. 

On our return to Kadiak Island, we found the 
streams still free of salmon, and the vegetation had 
become so rank as to Interfere a good deal with 
travehng and sighting game. The whole party 
looked serious, and the strain was beginning to tell, 

26s 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

no game having been seen for seven long weeks. 
This, with the swarms of gnats and mosquitoes, 
made time pass heavily. 

Other places proving barren, we finally brought 
up at Wesnoi Leide, half an hour's row from 
Ozinka, and found the dog fish just beginning to 
run up stream, at the head of the bay. Better still, 
there were fresh bear tracks. 

The wind was favorable, and we stationed our- 
selves the first evening on a bluff overlooking a 
long meadow, on the lower part of the stream. 
Hardly had we sat down, when Vacille said: "If 
that brown spot on the hillside were not so large, I 
would take it for a bear." The brown spot 
promptly walked into the woods, half a mile away. 
iWe were keen enough again, but our watching 
proved fruitless, as nothing came down on the 
meadow, showing that there was good fishing well 
up the stream. 

We rowed back to Ozinka, and left the country 
undisturbed, determined to get well into the woods 
the following night, before the bear came down 
to feed. 

The next evening we made an early start, and 
walking up the stream into the woods found plenty 
of fresh tracks, and finally halted by some big 
trees. The men placed themselves on some high 

266 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

limbs, where they could watch, and I stood in deep 
grass, some six or eight feet from a well-traveled 
path used by the bear in fishing the stream. The 
magpies were calling all about, and seemed to be 
saying, Midwit, midwit, Aleut for bear. The air 
was dead calm. Hardly were the men on their 
perches, before they saw a bear walk into the brush 
on one side of the valley. We waited quietly, in 
the midst of mosquitoes, but nothing came in sight. 
It was already after lo o'clock, and so dark that 
the men gave up their watch, and came down to 
join me. Suddenly we heard a sharp screech up 
the stream, and when it was repeated, Vacille said 
it must be a young bear crying because its mother 
would not feed it fast enough. Here Vacille did 
some good work. 

We walked rapidly up stream, through the thick 
brush, and before we had gone lOO yards heard a 
large animal, just ahead, moving about in the 
brush, and making a good deal of noise. I started 
ahead to get a view, thinking we had distiu'bed the 
bear, but Vacille held me back. We walked on 
noiselessly to a little bare point in the stream, and 
just then the bear appeared, bent on fishing, thirty 
feet away. She lumbered down into the stream, 
and when I fired fell into the water, the ball just 
missing her shoulder. She was up again, and this 

267 



American Big Game In its Haunts 

time I shot hurriedly, and a little behind the ribs. 
She ran, crossing up about forty feet away, and a 
trial with the .30-40 scored, but made no 
impression. 

Tchort caught up with her just as she fell, after 
running a hundred feet or more, and gave us to 
understand that he was the responsible party. We 
tried immediately to capture the cub, which would 
have been a rare prize, but had no success at all in 
the thicket. The old one, though of considerable 
age, was not a large specimen, and, with the excep- 
tion of the head, the hair was in bad condition. 
Length about 6 feet 4 inches ; height at shoulder 44 
inches; weight 500 pounds. The stomach was full 
of salmon, gleaned from the fishing beds made all 
along the stream. The Ozinka people did not en- 
joy my killing a bear just outside the village. 

I caught the boat about a week later, after a 
few pleasant days with Kidder and Blake, who had 
turned up at Wood Island, after a very successful 
hunt on the mainland. 

A word in regard to the Kadiak bear. Dr. 
Merriam has proved that he is distinct from other 
bear. That he ever reached 2,000 pounds is doubt- 
ful in my mind, but, by comparing measure- 
ments of skins, we can be sure he comes up to 
1,200, or a little over. Whether the Kadiak bear 

268 



The Kadiak Bear and his Home 

is bigger than the big brown bear of the mainland 
is doubtful. At present the growth of these bears 
is badly interfered with by the natives, and they 
rarely reach the old bear age, when these brutes 
become massive in their bony structure, and accu- 
mulate a vast amount of fat, just before denning 
up. 

W. Lord Smith. 



269 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

The mountain sheep is, in my estimation, the 
finest of all our American big game. Many men 
have killed it and sheep heads are trophies almost 
as common as moose heads, and yet among those 
who have hunted it most and know it best, but lit- 
tle is really understood as to the life of the moun- 
tain sheep, and many erroneous ideas prevail with 
regard to it. It is generally supposed to be an ani- 
mal found only among the tops of the loftiest and 
most rugged mountains, and never to be seen on 
the lower ground, and there are still people in- 
terested in big game who now and then ask one 
confidentially whether there really is anything in 
the story that the sheep throw themselves down 
from great heights, and, striking on their horns, 
rebound to their feet without injury. 

Each one of us individually knows but little 
about the mountain sheep, yet each who has 
hunted them has observed something of their ways, 
and each can contribute some share to an accumu- 
lation of facts which some time may be of assist- 

270 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

ance to the naturalist who shall write the life 
history of this noble species. But unless that 
naturalist has already been in the field and has 
there gathered much material, he is likely to be 
hard put to it when the time comes for his story 
to be written, since then there may be no mountain 
sheep to observe or to write of. The sheep is not 
likely to be so happy in its biographer as was the 
buffalo, for Dr. Allen's monograph on the Ameri- 
can bison is a classic among North American 
natural history works. 

The mountain sheep is an inhabitant of western 
America, and the books tell us that it inhabits the 
Rocky Mountains from southern California to 
Alaska. This Is sufficiently vague, and I shall en- 
deavor a little further on to Indicate a few 
places where this species may still be found, 
though even so I am unable to assign their ranges 
to the various forms that have been described. 

For this species seems to have become differen- 
tiated into several species and sub-species, some of 
which are well marked, and all of which we do not 
as yet know much about. These as described are 
the common sheep of the Rocky Mountains {Ovis 
canadensis) ; the white sheep of Alaska (Ovis 
dalli) , and its near relative, O. dalli kenaiensis; the 
so-called black sheep of northern British Columbia 

271 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

(O. stonei), described by Dr. Allen; Nelson's 
sheep of the southwest (0. nelsoni) and 0. mexi- 
canus, both described by Dr. Merriam. Besides 
these, Mr. Hornaday has described Ovis fannini of 
Yukon Territory, about which little is known, and 
Dr. Merriam has given the sheep of the Missouri 
River bad lands sub-specific rank under the title 
0. c. auduhoni. Recently Dr. Elliot has de- 
scribed the Lower California sheep as a sub- 
species of the Rocky Mountain form under the 
name 0. c. cremnohates. For twenty-five years I 
heard of a black sheep-like animal in the central 
range of the Rocky Mountains far to the north, 
said to be not only black in color, but with black 
horns, something like those of an antelope, but in 
shape and ringed like a female mountain sheep. 
From specimens recently examined at the Ameri- 
can Museum of Natural History, I now know this 
to be the young female of Ovis stonei. That 
several species of sheep should have been described 
within the last three or four years shows, perhaps 
as well as anything, how very little we know about 
the animals of this group. 

The sheep of the Rocky Mountains and of the 
bad lands (0. canadensis and 0. canadensis audu- 
honi) are those with which we are most familiar. 
Both forms are called the Rocky Mountain sheep, 

272 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

and from this it is commonly inferred that they 
arc confined to the mountains, and live solely 
among the rocks. In a measure this belief is true 
to-day, but it was not invariably so in old times. 
As in Asia, so in America, the wild sheep is an in- 
habitant of the high grass land plateaus. It de- 
lights in the elevated prairies, but near these 
prairies it must have rough or broken country to 
which it may retreat when pursued by its enemies. 
Before the days of the railroad and the settlements 
in the West, the sheep was often found on the 
prairie. It was then abundant in many localities 
where to-day farmers have their wheat fields, and 
to some extent shared the feeding ground of the 
antelope and the buffalo. Many and many a time 
while riding over the prairie, I have seen among 
the antelope that loped carelessly out of the way 
of the wagon before which I was riding, a few 
sheep, which would finally separate themselves 
from the antelope and run up to rising ground, 
there to stand and call until we had come too 
near them, when they would lope off and finally be 
seen climbing some steep butte or bluff, and there 
pausing for a last look, would disappear. 

Those were the days when if a man had a deer, 
a sheep, an antelope, or the bosse ribs of a buf- 
falo cow on his pack or in his wagon, it did not 

27Z 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

occur to him to shoot at the game among which 
he rode. I have seen sheep feeding on the prairies 
with antelope, and in little groups by themselves 
In North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming, and 
men whose experience extends much further back 
than mine — men, too, whose life was largely de- 
voted to observing the wild animals among which 
they lived — unite in telling me that they were 
commonly found In such situations. Personally I 
never saw sheep among buffalo, but knowing as I 
do the situations that both Inhabited and the ways 
of life of each, I am confident that sheep were 
often found with the buffalo, just as were antelope. 
The country of northwestern Montana, where 
high prairie is broken now and then by steep buttes 
rising to a height of several hundred feet, and 
by little ranges of volcanic uplifts like the Sweet 
Grass Hills, the Bear Paw Mountains, the Little 
Rockies, the Judith, and many others, was a 
favorite locality for sheep, and so, no doubt, was 
the butte country of western North Dakota, South 
Dakota and Nebraska, this being roughly the 
eastern limit of the species. In general It may be 
said that the plains sheep preferred plateaus 
much like those inhabited by the mule deer, a 
prairie country where there were rough broken 
hills or buttes, to which they could retreat when 

274 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

disturbed. That this habit was taken advantage 
of to destroy them will be shown further on. 

To-day, if one can climb above timber line 
in summer to the beautiful green alpine meadows 
just below the frowning snow-clad peaks in regions 
where sheep may still be found, his eye may yet be 
gladdened by the sight of a little group resting on 
the soft grass far from any cover that might shel- 
ter an enemy. If disturbed, the sheep get up 
deliberately, take a long careful look, and walking 
slowly toward the rocks, clamber out of harm's 
way. It will be labor wasted to follow them. 

Such sights may be witnessed still in portions 
of Montana and British Columbia, Idaho, Wyo- 
ming and Colorado, where bald, rolling mountains, 
showing little or no rock, are frequented by the 
sheep, which graze over the uplands, descending 
at midday to the valleys to drink, and then slowly 
working their way up the hills again to their illim- 
itable pastures. 

Of Ball's sheep, the white Alaskan form, we 
are told that its favorite feeding grounds are bald 
hills and elevated plateaus, and although when 
pursued and wounded it takes to precipitous cliffs, 
and perhaps even to tall mountain peaks, the land 
of Its choice appears to be not rough rocks, but 
rather the level or rolling upland. 

275 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

The sheep formerly was a gentle, unsuspi- 
cious animal, curious and confiding rather than 
shy; now it is noted in many regions for its alert- 
ness, wariness, and ability to take care of itself. 

Richardson, in his "Fauni-Boreali Americana," 
says: "Mr. Drummond informs me that in the re- 
tired part of the mountains, where hunters had 
seldom penetrated, he found no difficulty in ap- 
proaching the Rocky Mountain sheep, which there 
exhibited the simplicity of character so remarkable 
in the domestic species; but that where they had 
been often fired at they were exceedingly wild, 
alarmed their companions on the approach of 
danger by a hissing noise, and scaled the rocks 
with a speed and agility that baffled pursuit." The 
mountain men of early days tell precisely the same 
thing of the sheep. Fifty or sixty years ago they 
were regarded as the gentlest and most unsuspi- 
cious animal of all the prairie, excepting, of course, 
the buffalo. They did not understand that the 
sound of a gun meant danger, and, when shot at, 
often merely jumped about and stared, acting! 
much as in later times the elk and the mule deer 
acted. 

We may take it for granted that, before the 
coming of the white man, the mountain sheep 
ranged over a very large portion of western 

276 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

America, from the Arctic Ocean down into 
Mexico. Wherever the country was adapted to 
them, there they were found. Absence of suitable 
food, and sometimes the presence of animals not 
agreeable to them, may have left certain areas 
without the sheep, but for the most part these ani- 
mals no doubt existed from the eastern limit of 
their range clear to the Pacific. There were sheep 
on the plains and in the mountains; those inhabit- 
ing the plains when alarmed sought shelter in the 
rough bad lands that border so many rivers, or on 
the tall buttes that rise from the prairies, or in the 
small volcanic uplifts which, in the north, stretch 
far out eastward from the Rocky Mountains. 

While some hunters believe that the wild sheep 
were driven from their former habitat on the 
plains and in the foothills by the advent of 
civilized man, the opinion of the best naturalists is 
the reverse of this. They believe that over the 
whole plains country, except in a few localities 
where they still remain, the sheep have been ex- 
terminated, and this is probably what has hap- 
pened. Thus Dr. C. Hart Merriam writes me : 

"I do not believe that the plains sheep have 
been driven to the mountains at all, but that they 
have been exterminated over the greater part of 
their former range. In other words, that the form 

277 



American Big Game In its Haunts 

or sub-species inhabiting the plains (auduboni) is 
now extinct over the greater part of its range, 
occurring only in the localities mentioned by you. 
The sheep of the mountains always lived there, 
and, in my opinion, has received no accession from 
the plains. In other words, to my mind it Is not a 
case of changed habit, but a case of extermination 
over large areas. The same I believe to be true in 
the case of elk and many other animals." 

That this is true of the elk — and within my own 
recollection — is certainly the fact. In the early 
days of my western travel, elk were reasonably 
abundant over the whole plains as far east as 
within 1 20 miles of the city of Omaha on the Mis- 
souri River, north to the Canadian boundary line 
— and far beyond — and south at least to the In- 
dian Territory. From all this great area as far 
west as the Rocky Mountains they have disap- 
peared, not by any emigration to other localities, 
but by absolute extermination. 

A few years ago we knew but one species of 
mountain sheep, the common bighorn of the West, 
but with the opening of new territories and their 
invasion by white men, more and more specimens 
of the bighorn have come into the hands of 
naturalists, with the result that a number of new 
forms have been described covering territory from 

278 



The Mountain Sheep and Its Range 

Alaska to Mexico. These forms, with the locali- 
ties from which the types have come, are as 
follows : 

Ovis canadensis, Interior of western Canada. 
(Mountains of Alberta.) 

Ovis canadensis audiihoni, Bad Lands of South 
Dakota. (Between the White and Cheyenne 
rivers. ) 

Ovis nelsoni, Grapevine Mountains, boundary 
between California and Nevada. (Just south of 
Lat. 37 deg.) 

Ovis mexicanus, Lake Santa Maria, Chihuahua, 
Mexico. 

Ovis stonei, headwaters Stikinc River (Chc-o- 
nee Mountains), British Columbia. 

Ovis dalli, mountains on Forty-Mile Creek, 
west of Yukon River, Alaska. 

Ovis dalli kenaiensis, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska 
(1901). 

Ovis canadensis cremnobates, Lower California. 

The standing of Ovis fannini has been in 
doubt ever since its description, and recent speci- 
mens appear to throw still more doubt on it. 
Those most familiar with our sheep do not now, 
I believe, acknowledge it as a valid species. It 
comes from the mountains of the Klondike River, 
near Dawson, Yukon Territory. 

279 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

What the relations of these different forms are 
to one another has not yet been determined, but 
it may be conjectured that Ovis canadensis, 0. 
nelsoni, and O. dalli differ most widely from one 
another; while O. stonei and O. dalli, with its 
forms, are close together; and O. canadensis, 
and O. c. auduboni are closely related; as are also 
O. nelsoni, 0. mexicanus, and O. c. cremnobates. 
The sub-species auduboni is the easternmost mem- 
ber of the American sheep family, while the sheep 
of Chihuahua and of Lower California are the 
most southern now known. 

PRIMITIVE HUNTING. 

At many points in the Rocky Mountains and 
the Sierra Nevadas the Indians were formerly 
great sheep hunters, and largely depended on this 
game for their flesh food. That it was easily 
hunted in primitive times cannot be doubted, and 
is easily comprehended when we remember the 
testimony of white observers already quoted. In 
certain places in the foothills of the mountains, or 
in more or less isolated ranges In Utah, Nevada, 
Montana, and other sections, the Indians used to 
beat the mountains, driving the sheep up to the 
summits, where concealed bowmen might kill 
them. On the summits of certain ranges which 

280 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

formerly were great resorts for sheep, I have 
found hiding places built of slabs of the trachyte 
which forms the mountain, which were used by 
the Indians for this purpose in part, as, later, they 
were also used by the scouting warrior as shelters 
and lookout stations from which a wide extent of 
plain might be viewed. The sheep on the prairie 
or on the foothills of such ranges, if alarmed, 
would of course climb to the summit, and there 
would be shot with stone-headed arrows. 

Mr. Mulr has seen such shelters in Nevada, and 
he tells us also that the Indians used to build cor- 
rals or pounds with diverging wings, somewhat 
like those used for the capture of antelope and 
buffalo on the plains, and that they drove the 
sheep Into these corrals, about which, no doubt, 
men, women, and children were secreted, ready 
to destroy the game. 

Certain tribes made a practice of building con- 
verging fences and driving the sheep toward the 
angle of these fences, where hunters lay in wait to 
kill them, as elsewhere mentioned by Mr. Hofer. 
In fact, sheep in those old times shared with all 
the other animals of the prairie that tameness to 
which I have often adverted in writing on this 
subject, and which now seems so remarkable. 

The Bannocks and Sheep Eaters depended for 
281 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

their food very largely on sheep. In fact, the 
Sheep Eaters are reported to have killed little else, 
whence their name. Both these tribes hunted more 
or less in disguise, and wore on the head and 
shoulders the skin and horns of a mountain sheep's 
head, the skin often being drawn about the body, 
and the position assumed a stooping one, so as to 
simulate the animal with a considerable closeness. 
The legs, which were uncovered, were commonly 
rubbed with white or gray clay, and certain precau- 
tions were used to kill the human odor. 

A Cheyenne Indian told me of an interesting 
happening witnessed by his grandfather very many 
years ago. A war party had set out to take horses 
from the Shoshone. One morning just at sunrise 
the fifteen or sixteen men were traveling along on 
foot in single file through a deep caiion of the 
mountains, when one of them spied on a ledge far 
above them the head and shoulders of a great 
mountain sheep which seemed to be looking over 
the valley. He pointed it out to his fellows, and 
as they walked along they watched it. Presently 
it drew back, and a little later appeared again 
further along the ledges, and stood there on the 
verge. As the Indians watched, they suddenly saw 
shoot out from another ledge above the sheep a 
mountain lion, which alighted on the sheep's neck, 

282 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

and both animals fell whirling over the cliff and 
struck the slide rock below. The fall was a long 
one, and the Cheyennes, feeling sure that the sheep 
had been killed, either by the fall or by the lion, 
rushed forward to secure the meat. When they 
reached the spot the lion was hobbling off with a 
broken leg, and one of them shot it with his 
arrow, and when they made ready to skin the 
sheep, they saw to their astonishment that it was 
not a sheep, but a man wearing the skin and horns 
of a sheep. He had been hunting, and his bow 
and arrows were wrapped in the skin close to his 
breast. The fall had killed him. From the fash- 
ion of his hair and his moccasins they knew that 
he was a Bannock. 

A reference to the hunting methods of the 
Sheep Eaters reminds one very naturally of that 
pursued by the Blackfeet, when sheep were needed 
for their skins or for their flesh. These animals 
were abundant about the many buttes which rise 
out of the prairie on the flanks of the Rocky 
Mountains, in what is now Montana, and when 
disturbed retreated to the heights for safety. 

Hugh Monroe, a typical mountain man of the 
old time, who reached Fort Edmonton in the year 
1 8 13, and died in 1893, after eighty years 
spent upon the prairie in close association with 

283 



American Big Game In its Haunts 

the Indians, has often told me of the Blackfoot 
method of securing sheep when their skins were 
needed for women's dresses. On such an occasion 
a large number of the men would ride out from 
the camp to the neighborhood of one of these 
buttes, and on their approach the sheep, which had 
been feeding on the prairie, slowly retreated to 
the heights above. The Indians then spread out, 
encircling the butte by a wide ring of horsemen, 
and sending three or four young men to climb its 
heights, awaited results. When the men sent up 
on the butte had reached its summit, they pursued 
the sheep over Its limited area, and drove them 
down to the prairie below, where the mounted 
men chased and killed them. In this way large 
numbers of sheep were procured. 

Of the hunting of the sheep by the Indians who 
inhabited the rough mountains in and near what is 
now the Yellowstone National Park, Mr. Hofer 
has said to me : 

"It is supposed that when the Sheep Eater In- 
dians inhabited the mountains about the Park they 
kept the sheep down pretty close, but after they 
went away the sheep increased in that particular 
range of country, the whole Absaroka range ; that 
is to say, the country from Clark Fork of the 
Yellowstone down to the Wind River drainage. 

284 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

The greatest number of sheep in recent years was 
pretty well toward the head of Gray Bull, Mee- 
teetsee Creek and Stinking Water. In those old 
times the Indians used to build rude fences on the 
sides of the mountains, running down a hill, and 
these fences would draw together toward the bot- 
tom, and where they came nearly together the In- 
dians would have a place to hide in. Fifteen years 
ago there was one such trap that was still quite 
plainly visible. One fence follows down pretty 
near the edge of a little ridge, draining steeply 
down from Crandle Creek divide to Miller Creek. 
There was no pen at the bottom, and no cliff to 
run them off, so that the Indians could not have 
killed them in that way, but near where the fences 
came together there was a pile of dead limbs and 
small rocks that looked to me as if it had been 
used by a person lying in wait to shoot animals 
which were driven down this ridge; and it was 
near enough to the place that they must pass to 
shoot them with arrows. These Indians had 
arrows, and hunted with them; and up on top of 
the ridges you will find old stumps that have been 
hacked down with stone hatchets. Some of the 
tree trunks have been removed, but others have 
been left there. I think that some Indians would 
go around the sheep and start them off, and gradu- 

285 



American Big Game In Its Haunts 

ally drive them to the pass where the hunter lay. 
I remember following along this ridge, and then 
on another ridge that went on toward the Clark 
Fork ridge to quite a high little peak, and on top 
of this peak was quite a large bed for a man to 
lie in. He could watch there until the sheep should 
pass through, and then he could come out and 
drive them on." 

AGENTS OF DESTRUCTION. 

The settling up of much of their former range, 
with pursuit by skin-hunters, head-hunters, and 
meat-hunters, has had much to do with the reduc- 
tion in numbers of the mountain sheep, but 
more important than these have been the ravages 
by diseases brought in to their range by the domes- 
tic sheep, and then spread by the wild species 
among their wild associates. For many years it 
has been known that the wild sheep of certain por- 
tions of the Rocky Mountain region are afflicted 
with scab, a disease which in recent years seems to 
have attacked the elk as well. Testimony is abun- 
dant that wild sheep are killed by scab as domestic 
sheep are. On a few occasions I have seen animals 
that appeared to have died from this cause, but 
Mr. Hofer, to be quoted later, has had a much 
broader experience. 

286 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

More sweeping and even more fatal has been 
the introduction among the wild sheep of an an- 
thrax, of which, however, very little is known. 

Aside from man, the most important enemies of 
the sheep in nature are the mountain lion and 
eagles of two species. These last I believe to be 
so destructive to newly born sheep and goats that 
I think it a duty to kill them whenever possible. 

Dr. Edward L. Munson, at that time Assistant 
Surgeon, U. S. iVrmy, but whose services in more 
recent years have won him so much credit, and 
such well deserved promotion, wrote me in 1897 
the following interesting paragraphs with relation 
to disease among sheep. He said: 

"The Bear Paw Mountains were full of moun- 
tain sheep a dozen years ago. One was roped last 
summer, and this is the only representative which 
has been seen or heard of there in ten years. The 
introduction of tame sheep early in the '8o's was 
followed by a most destructive anthrax, which not 
only destroyed immense numbers of tame sheep, 
but also exterminated the wild ones, which ap- 
peared to be especially susceptible to this disease. 
In going through these mountains one often finds 
the skeletons of a number huddled together, and 
the above is the explanation given by some of the 
older settlers. The mountains are small, and the 

287 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

wild sheep could not climb up out of the infected 
zone. Immediate contact is, of course, not neces- 
sary in the propagation of anthrax, and the bacilli 
and spores left on soil grazed over by an infected 
band would readily infect another animal feeding 
over such a country even a long time afterward. 

"I have also heard that the introduction of dog 
distemper played havoc with wolves, coyotes, and 
Indian dogs, when it first came into the country. 
This is the case with regard to any disease intro- 
duced into a virgin human population, in which 
there is no immunity due to the prevalence of such 
a disease for hundreds of years previously." 

Mr. Elwood Hofer, discussing this subject in 
conversation, says: 

"There are not a great many sheep in the Park 
now, anywhere; they have died off from sickness — 
the scab. This is a fact known to everyone living 
in the neighborhood of the Park. I have killed 
only one that had the disease badly, but I used to 
see them every day, and pay no attention to them. 
I did not hunt for them, for I did not want them 
in that condition. I remember that once a man 
came out to Gardiner who did not know that the 
sheep were sick. He saw some when he was hunt- 
ing, and rushed up in great excitement and killed 
three of them. They seemed to be weak and were 

288 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

pretty nearly dead with scab before he saw them. 
Sometimes they become so weak from this disease 
that they he down and die. 

"I first noticed sheep with the scab around the 
caiion by the Yellowstone. I never saw any 
troubled with this disease around Meeteetsee or 
Stinking Water. I have been there in winter, and 
hunted them as late as November, and Col. Pickett 
used to kill some still later. I never heard him 
speak of the scab." 

In spring and early summer, when the young 
sheep are small, the eagles are constantly on the 
watch for them, and unquestionably capture many 
lambs. I have been told by my friend, Mr. J. B. 
Monroe, who has several times captured lambs 
alive, that when they heard the rope whistling as 
he threw it toward them, they would run directly 
toward him, seeming to fear some enemy from 
above. He believes that they took the sound of 
the rope flying through the air for the sound of 
the eagle's wings. 

While, of course, the mountain lions cannot 
overtake the sheep In fair chase, they lie In wait 
for them among the rocks, killing many, because 
the sheep range on ground suitable for the lions to 
stalk them on; that Is to say, among the rocks on 
steep mountain sides, or at the edges of caiions. 

289 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

A conversation had with Mr. Hofer a year or 
two since is so interesting that I offer no apology 
for giving the gist of it here. It has to do with 
the enemies of the sheep, especially the mountain 
lion, and with some of the sheep's ways. In sub- 
stance, Mr. Hofer said: 

"One day about the first of January I was in 
my cabin looking through the window, and up 
through the Cinnabar Basin, over the snow-covered 
mountains. As I was looking, I saw a dark patch 
disappear in the snow and then rise out of it 
again. The snow was deep and fluffy. The ani- 
mal that I was watching would disappear in the 
snow with a plunge, and then would come up with 
a jump. It made several wonderful flights. It was 
so far off I could not tell what it was, and when I 
looked at it through the glasses I saw that it was a 
big ram breaking a trail. I was watching him 
closely and at first did not notice that others were 
with him. Soon, however, I discovered that there 
were four or five other sheep following him. 

"The big ram came down from the side of the 
mountain, and, to pass over to the other mountain, 
he had to cross the valley. There were a number 
of knolls or ridges in this valley, where the snow 
was not so deep as in the hollows. The ram broke 
a trail to a knoll, and stopped and looked back, 

290 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

and pretty soon I saw the rest of the sheep coming 
along. They followed his trail and passed him 
while he was standing there looking back, always 
looking up at the mountain. While he stood on 
this knoll where the snow was not deep — for it had 
blown off — and the other sheep had passed him, 
one of them took the lead to the next knoll, break- 
ing the trail, but here the snow was not so deep as 
that the ram had come through. No sooner had 
the sheep got to this knoll than the old ram 
started. He took the trail the others had made, 
and joined them at the next knoll, and then plung- 
ing In, went on ahead and broke a fresh trail to the 
next rise of ground. The ram did most of the 
trail-breaking, but sometimes one of the others 
went ahead ; there was always one In the rear, on 
guard, as it were, until they had crossed the valley 
to a steep ridge on the next mountain. As they 
went, they stopped every little while and stood for 
some time looking back. 

"Knowing the habits of the animal, T felt sure 
that something had driven them off the mountain. 
They looked back as If to see whether anything 
was following, or perhaps to look again at what 
had frightened them. I thought It was a moun- 
tain Hon. Soon afterward I took my snowshoes 
and went up that way and found the track of a 

291 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

mountain lion. From the size of the track it 
seemed as if the animal must have been enormous. 
On soft snow, though, tracks spread and look big, 
and besides that, these cats commonly spread out 
their toes. There was no mistake about its being 
a mountain lion, for I could see where the tail had 
struck the soft snow and made holes in it. 

"Mountain lions were around there a good deal, 
and E. De Long, who had a cabin a little further 
up in the valley, told me that three times in his 
experience of hunting up there he had come on a 
place where a mountain lion had just killed a 
sheep. In each case he found the sheep in nearly 
the same place, and in each case the sheep was 
freshly killed, and he dressed it and took it home. 

"This seemed to be a favorite place for the lions 
to kill sheep. They are great hands to kill sheep 
in about the same place. Far up on the Boulder — 
way up near the head — Col. Pickett and I found 
nineteen or twenty skulls of sheep by one rock. 
There was a wonderful lot of them. They had 
been killed at various times, and in a place where 
they never could have been killed by snowslides. 
It was under a very high rock, fifteen feet per- 
pendicular on one side, and in the valley a game 
trail passed close under this side. On the other 
side the rock was not so high, but sloped off to the 

292 



The Mountain Sheep and Its Range 

side of the hill. A lion could easily lie there with- 
out being seen, but could himself see both ways. 
The game trail was so close that he could jump 
right down on to it. The number of skulls that 
we saw here was so remarkable that Col. Pickett 
and I counted them; there were more than 
eighteen. 

"The skulls were most of them old — killed a 
good while before. None of them had the shells 
of the horns. They were old skulls, and the oldest 
were almost in fragments, very much weathered. 
It was the accumulation of a number of years, 
probably ten or fifteen. To my mind it showed 
clearly that this was a favorite place for lions to 
lie for mountain sheep. I have known of some- 
thing similar to that in Cinnabar Basin, where I 
have seen a number of skulls scattered along the 
gulch. There was a heavy trail there which led up 
to a valley where there is a pass by which we used 
to wind down to the Yellowstone and Tom Miner 
Creek and Trapper Creek. 

"Lions are quite bad along the Yellowstone 
here, and sometimes in a hard winter they seem 
to be driven out of the mountains, and a consider- 
able number have been killed on Gardiner River 
and Reese Creek. 

"If mountain lions are after the sheep, the sheep 
293 



American Big Game In Its Haunts 

leave the mountain they are on and go to another; 
they will not stay there, and will not return until 
something drives them back." 

SOME WAYS OF THE SHEEP. 

Mr. Hofer said : 

"In old times It was sometimes possible to get a 
'stand' on sheep, and. In my opinion, sheep often, 
even to-day, are the least suspicious of all the 
mountain animals. A mountain sheep always 
seems to fear the thing that he sees under him. If 
a man goes above him he does not seem to know 
what to do. I could never understand why, when 
one Is above him, he stands and looks. I have 
sometimes been riding around in the mountains, 
and have come on sheep right below me. I have 
often thrown stones at them, and sometimes It was 
quite a while before I could get them to start. 
Fmally, however, they would run ofF. They acted 
as If they were dazed. 

"On the other hand, when I carried the mail 
down In San Juan county, Colorado, In the winter of 
i875"'7^> goJrig across from Animas Forks by way 
of the Grizzly Pass to Tellurium Fork, I was 
the only person in that section of the country all 
through the winter, and yet, although the sheep 
saw only me, and saw me every day, they always 

294 



The Mountain Sheep and Its Range 

acted wild. Sometimes a ram would see me and 
stand and look for a long time, and then presently 
all along the mountain side I would see sheep run- 
ning as if they were alarmed. On the other hand, 
If I met any of them on top of the mountain, they 
scarcely ever ran, they just stood and looked at me. 

"Once, when on a hunting trip, I had my horses 
all picketed in sight, just above the basin where we 
were camped. The boy that had the care of the 
horses had been up to change the picketed animals, 
and when he came In he said: 'There's a sheep 
up there close by the horses. He saw me and was 
not afraid.' We went out of the tent and 
presently I could see the sheep, a small one about 
four years old. We went up toward it, and I saw 
the sheep moving about. It went out to a little 
flat place on the slide rock, where the slide rock 
had pushed out a little further, making a little low 
butte, or flat-topped table ; it was loose rock, with 
snow. Here the sheep lay down. 

"I went around to station my man where he 
could get a rest for his rifle, and when I had done 
this, I went around above to make the sheep get up 
to drive him out, so that the man could shoot him. 
After I got well up the gulch, above him, the sheep 
could see me plainly, and I could see his eyes. I 
hesitated about making him get up, thinking per- 

295 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

haps it was somebody's tame sheep, but we were 
the first ones up there that spring, and of course 
it was not a tame sheep. If we had not been out 
of meat I would not have disturbed the animal. I 
walked toward it to make it get up, but it would 
not, and still lay there. When I was within thirty 
feet of it I took up a stone and threw it, and called 
at him. The sheep stood up and looked at me. 
I said, 'Go on, now,' and he started in the direction 
I wished him to take. When he came in sight, the 
man fired two or three shots at him, but did not 
hurt him, and the sheep again lay down in sight of 
camp. Afterward I fired at him about 300 yards 
up the side of the mountain, but I did not touch 
him. However, he was disturbed by the shooting, 
and moved away. 

"It is often difficult to find a reason for the way 
sheep act. It Is possible that this young ram, 
which was in the Sunlight Mining District, had 
seen many miners, and that they had not disturbed 
him, and that so he had lost his fear of man. He 
was not at all afraid of horses, perhaps because he 
was accustomed to seeing miners' horses; or he 
may have taken them for elk. I do not see why 
our wind did not alarm him. At all events, for 
some reason, this one showed no fear. 

"Along the Gardiner River, Inside the northern 
296 



The Mountain Sheep and Its Range 

boundary of the Yellowstone Park, there are 
always a number of sheep in winter, and they be- 
come very tame, having learned by experience that 
people passing to and fro will not Injure them. 
Men driving up the road from Mammoth Hot 
Springs to Gardiner, constantly see these sheep, 
which manifest the utmost Indifference to those 
who are passing them. Sometimes they stand close 
enough to the road for a driver to reach them with 
his whip. One winter the surgeon at the post, 
driving along, came upon a sheep standing in the 
road, and as It did not move, he had to stop his 
team for it. He did not dare to drive his horse 
close up to It. Finally the ram jumped out to one 
side of the road, and the surgeon drove on. He 
said he could have touched it with his whip." 

One winter when Mr. Hofer made an extended 
snowshoe trip through the Park, he passed very 
close to sheep. It appeared to him that they fear 
man less along the wagon roads than when he is 
out on the benches and In the mountains. They 
seem to care little for man, but if a mountain lion 
appears in the neighborhood, the sheep are no 
longer seen. Just where they go is uncertain, but 
it is believed that they cross the Yellowstone River 
by swimming. 

In winter, and especially late in the winter, 
297 



American Big Game In Its Haunts 

sheep frequent southern and southwestern ex- 
posures, and spend much of their time there. I 
have seen places on the St. Marys Lake, in 
northern Montana, where there were cartloads of 
droppings, apparently the accumulation of many 
years, and have seen the same thing in the cliffs 
along the Yellowstone River. On the rocks here 
there were many beds among the cliffs and ledges. 
Often such beds are behind a rock, not a high one, 
but one that the sheep could look over. In places 
such as this the animals are very difficult to detect. 

Although the wild sheep was formerly, to a con- 
siderable extent, an inhabitant of the western edge 
of the prairies of the high dry plains, it is so no 
longer. The settling of the country has made this 
impossible, but long before its permanent occu- 
pancy the frequent passage through it by hunters 
had resulted in the destruction of the sheep or had 
driven it more or less permanently to those heights 
where, in times of danger, it had always sought 
refuge. 

To the east of the principal range of the wild 
sheep in America to-day there are still a few of its 
old haunts not in the mountains which are so arid or 
so rough, or where the water is so bad that as yet 
they have not to any great extent been invaded by 
the white man. Again to the south and southwest, 



The Mountain Sheep and Its Range 

in portions of Arizona, Old Mexico, and Lower 
California, there rise out of frightful deserts buttes 
and mountain ranges inhabited by different forms 
of sheep. In that country water Is extremely 
scarce, and the few water holes that exist are visited 
by the sheep only at long Intervals. There are 
many men who believe that the sheep do not drink 
at all, but It is chiefly at these water holes that the 
sheep of the desert are killed. 

At the present day the chief haunts of the moun- 
tain sheep are the fresh Alpine meadows lying 
close to timber line, and fenced in by tall peaks; 
or the rounded grassy slopes which extend from 
timber line up to the region of perpetual snows. 
Sitting on the point of some tall mountain the 
observer may look down on the green meadows, 
Interspersed perhaps with little clumps of low 
willows which grow along the tiny watercourses 
whose sources are the snow banks far up the moun- 
tain side, and If patient in his watch and faithful 
In his search, he may detect with his glasses at first 
one or two, and gradually more and more, until at 
length perhaps ten, fifteen or thirty sheep may be 
counted, scattered over a considerable area of 
country. Or, if he climbs higher yet, and over- 
looks the rounded shoulders which stretch up from 
the passes toward the highest pinnacles of all — 

299 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

he will very likely see far below him, lying on the 
hill and commanding a view miles in extent in 
every direction, a group of nine, ten or a dozen 
sheep peacefully resting in the midday sun. 
Those that he sees will be almost all of them ewes 
and young animals. Perhaps there may be a 
young ram or two whose horns have already begun 
to curve backward, but for the most part they are 
females and young. 

The question that the hunter is always asking 
himself is where are the big rams? Now and then, 
to be sure, more by accident than by any wisdom 
of his own, he stumbles on some monster of the 
rocks, but of the sheep that he sees in his wander- 
ings, not one in a hundred has a head so large as 
to make him consider it a trophy worth possessing. 
It is commonly declared that in summer the big 
rams are "back along the range," by which it Is 
meant that they are close to the summits of the 
tallest peaks. It Is probable that this Is true, and 
that they gather by twos and threes on these tall 
peaks, and, not moving about very much, escape 
observation. 

During the spring, summer, and early fall the 
females and their young keep together In small 
bands In the mountains, well up, close under what 
Is called the "rim rock," or the "reefs," where the 

300 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

grass Is sweet and tender, the going good, and 
where a refuge is within easy reach. While hunt- 
ing in such places in September and October, when 
the first snows are falling, one is likely to find the 
trail of a band of sheep close up beneath the rock. 
If the mountain is one long inhabited by sheep, 
they have made a well-worn trail on the hill- 
side, and the little band, while traveling along this 
in a general way, scatters out on both sides 
feeding on the grass heads that project above the 
snow, and often with their noses pushing the light 
snow away to get at the grass beneath. I have 
never seen them do this, nor have I seen them paw- 
to get at the grass, but the marks in the snow 
where they have fed showed clearly that the snow 
was pushed aside by the muzzle. 

Like most other animals, wild and tame, sheep 
are ver>' local in their habits, and one little band 
will occupy the same basin in the mountains all 
summer long, going to water by the same trail, 
feeding in the same meadows and along the same 
hillsides, occupying the same beds stamped out In 
the rough slide rock, or on the great rock masses 
which have fallen down from the cliff above. 
Even if frightened from their chosen home by the 
passage of a party of travelers, they will go no 
further than to the tops of the rocks, and as soon 

301 



American Big Game In Its Haunts 

as the cause of alarm Is removed will return once 
more to the valley. 

I saw a striking Instance of this some years ago, 
when, with a Geological Survey party, I visited a 
little basin on the head of one of the forks of 
Stinking Water In Wyoming, where a few families 
of sheep had their home. 

Our appearance alarmed the sheep, which ran 
a little way up the face of the cliff, and then, stop- 
ping occasionally to look, clambered along more 
deliberately. When we reached the head of the 
basin we found that there was no way down on the 
other side, and that we must go back as we had 
come. The afternoon was well advanced and the 
pack train started back and camped only a mile or 
two down the valley, while I stopped among some 
great rocks to watch the movements of the sheep. 
Though at first not easy to see, the animals' 
presence was evident by their calling, and at length 
several were detected almost at the top of the cliff, 
but already making their way back IntO' the valley. 

I was much Interested In watching a ewe, which 
was coming down a steep slope of slide rock. 
There was apparently no trail, or If there was one, 
she did not use It, but picked her way down to the 
head of the slope of slide rock, stood there for a few 
moments, and then, after bleating once or twice, 

302 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

sprang well out into the air and alighted on the 
slide rock, it seemed to me, twenty-five feet below 
where she had been. A little cloud of dust arose 
and she appeared to be buried to her knees in the 
slide rock. I could not see how it was possible 
for her to have made this jump without breaking 
her slender legs, yet she repeated it again and 
again, until she had come down about to my level 
and had passed out of sight. Nor was this ewe 
the only one that was coming down. From a num- 
ber of points on the precipice round about I could 
hear rocks rolling and sheep calling, and before 
very long eight or ten ewes and four or five lambs 
had come together in the little basin, and presently 
marched almost straight up to where I lay hid. 
There was meat in the camp, and so no reason for 
shooting at these innocents. Later when I returned 
to camp, one of the packers informed me that for 
an hour or two before a yearling ram had been 
feeding in the meadow with the pack animals, close 
to the camp. 

The sheep now commonly shows himself to be 
the keenest and wariest of North American big 
game. Yet we may readily credit the stories told 
us by older men of his former simplicity and inno- 
cence, since even to-day we sometimes see these 
characteristics displayed. I remember riding up 

303 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

a narrow valley walled in on both sides by vertical 
cliffs and at its head by a rock wall which was 
partly broken down, and through which we hoped 
to find a way into the next valley to the northward. 
As we rode along, a mile or more from the cliff 
at the valley's head, I saw one or two sheep pass- 
ing over it, and a few minutes later was electrified 
by hearing my companion say: "Oh, look at the 
sheep ! Look at the sheep ! Look at the sheep !" 
And there, charging down the valley directly to- 
ward us, came a bunch of thirty or forty sheep in 
a close body, running as if something very terrify- 
ing were close behind them, and paying not the 
slightest attention to the two horsemen before 
them. I rolled off my horse and loaded my gun. 
The sheep came within twenty-five or thirty steps 
and a little to one side, and passed us like the wind, 
but they left behind one of their number, which 
kept us in fresh meat for several days thereafter. 
The first shot I fired at this band gave me a sur- 
prise. I drew my sight fine on the point of the 
breast of the leading animal and pulled the trig- 
ger, but instead of the explosion which should 
have followed I heard the hammer fall on the 
firing-pin. There was a slow hissing sound, a little 
puff at the muzzle of the rifle, and I distinctly 
heard the leaden ball fall to the ground just in 

■304 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

front of me. In a moment I had reloaded and had 
killed the sheep before it had passed far beyond 
me ; but for a few seconds I could not comprehend 
what had happened. Then it came back to me 
that a few days before I had made from half a 
dozen cartridges a weight to attach to a fish line 
for the purpose of sounding the depth of a lake. 
Evidently a lubricating wad had been imperfect, 
and dampness had reached the powder. 

Like others of our ungulates, wild sheep are 
great frequenters of "licks" — places where the 
soil has been more or less impregnated with saline 
solutions. These licks are visited frequently — per- 
haps daily — during the summer months by sheep 
of all ages, and such points are favorite watching 
places for men who need meat, and wish to secure 
it as easily as possible. At a certain lick in 
northern Montana, shots at sheep may be had 
almost any day by the man who is willing to watch 
for them. In the summer of 1903 a bunch of nine 
especially good rams visited a certain lick each day. 
The guide of a New York man who was hunting 
there in June — of course in violation of the law — 
took him to the lick. The first day nine rams 
came, and the New Yorker, after firing many 
shots, frightened them all away. Perhaps he hit 
some of them, for the next day only seven re- 

305 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

turned, of which three were killed. In British 
Columbia I have seen twenty-five or thirty sheep 
working at a lick, from which the earth had been 
eaten away, so that great hollows and ravines were 
cut out in many directions from the central spring. 

Examination of such licks in cold — freezing — 
weather, seems to show that the sheep do not then 
visit them. I have seen mule deer and sheep nib- 
bling the soil in company, and have seen white 
goats visit a lick frequented also by sheep. 

Of Dall's sheep, Mr. Stone declares that it is 
rapidly growing scarcer, and this statement is based 
not only on his own observation, bu, on reports 
made to him by the Indians. Mr. Stone describes 
it as possessing wonderful agility, endurance, and 
vitality, and gives many examples of their ability 
to get about among most difficult rocks when 
wounded. He adds: "From my experience with 
these animals, I believe they seek quite as rugged 
a country in which to make their homes as does 
the Rocky Mountain goat. They brave higher 
latitudes and live in regions in every way more 
barren and forbidding." He reports the females 
with their lambs as generally keeping to the high 
table lands far back in the mountains. Among the 
specimens which he recently collected, broken jaw 
bones reunited were so frequent among the 

306 



The Mountain Sheep and Its Range 

females killed as to excite comment. Notwith- 
standing Mr. Stone's gloomy view of the future 
of this species, we may hope that the enforcement 
of the game laws in Alaska will long preserve this 
beautiful animal. 

Our knowledge of the habits of the Lower Cali- 
fornia sheep inhabiting the San Pedro Martir 
Mountains has been slight. Mr. Gould's admir- 
able account of a hunting trip for them — *'To the 
Gulf of Cortez," published in a preceding volume 
of the Club's book — will be remembered, and the 
curious fact stated by his Indian guide that the 
sheep break holes in the hard, prickly rinds of the 
venaga cactus with their horns, and then eat out 
the inside. 

Recently, however, a series of thirteen speci- 
mens collected by Edmund Heller were received 
by Dr. D. G. Elliot, and described, as already 
stated, and he gives from Mr. Heller's note-book 
the following notes on their habits : 

"Common about the cliffs, coming down occa- 
sionally to the water holes in the valley. Most of 
the sheep observed were either solitary or in small 
bands of three to a dozen. Only one adult ram 
was seen, all the others, about thirty, being either 
ewes or lambs. The largest bunch seen consisted 
of eleven, mostly ewes and a few young rams. 

307 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

"The sheep, as a rule, inhabit the middle line 
of cliffs where they are safe from attack above 
and can watch the valley below for danger. Here 
about the middle line of cliffs they were observed, 
and the greater number of tracks and dust wal- 
lows, where they spend much of their time, were 
seen. A few were seen on the level stretches of 
the mesas, and a considerable number of tracks, 
but these were made by those traveling from one 
line of cliffs to another. 

"They are constantly on guard, and very little 
of their time is given to browsing. Their usual 
method is to feed about some high cliffs or rocks, 
taking an occasional mouthful of brush, and then 
suddenly throwing up the head and gazing and 
listening for a long time before again taking food. 
They are not alarmed by scent, like deer or ante- 
lope, the direction of the wind apparently making 
no difference in hunting them. A small bunch of 
six were observed for a considerable time feeding. 
Their method seemed to be much the same as in- 
dividuals, except that when danger was suspected 
by any member, he would give a few quick leaps, 
and all the flock would scamper tO' some high rock 
and face about in various directions, no two look- 
ing the same way. These maneuvers were often 
performed, perhaps once every fifteen minutes^ 

308 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

"Their chief enemy Is the mountain Hon, which 
hunts them on the cliffs, apparently never about 
watering places. Lion tracks were not rare about 
the sheep runs. They are extremely wary about 
coming down for water, and take every precau- 
tion. Before leaving the cliffs to cross the valley 
tO' water they usually select some high ridge and 
descend along this, gazing constantly at the spring, 
usually halting ten or more minutes on every 
prominent rocky point. When within a hundred 
yards or less of the water, a long careful search is 
made, and a great deal of ear-work performed, 
the head being turned first to one side and then 
to the other. When they do at last satisfy them- 
selves, they make a bolt and drink quickly, stop- 
ping occasionally to listen and look for danger. 

"If, however, they should be surprised at the 
water they do not flee at once, but gaze for some 
time at the Intruder, and then go a short way and 
take another look, and so on until at last they 
break into a steady run for the cliffs. At least 
thirty sheep were observed at the water, and none 
came before 9 i^o A. M. or later than 2 130 p. M., 
most coming down between 1 2 :oo M. and i :oo 
p. M. This habit has probably been established 
to avoid lions, which are seldom about during the 
hottest part of the day. A few ewes were seen 

309 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

with two lambs, but the greater number had only 
one. Most of the young appeared about two 
months old. Their usual gait was a short gallop, 
seldom a walk or trot." 

The great curving horns of the wild sheep have 
always exercised more or less influence on people's 
imagination, and have given rise to various fables. 
These horns are large in proportion to the animal, 
and so peculiar that it has seemed necessary to ac- 
count for them on the theory that they had some 
marvelous purpose. The familiar tale that the 
horns of the males were used as cushions on which 
the animal alighted when leaping down from great 
heights is old. A more modern hypothesis which 
promises to be much shorter lived is that advanced 
a year or two ago by Mr. Geo. Wherry, of Cam- 
bridge, England, who suggested that "The form 
of the horn and position of the ear enables the 
wild sheep to determine the direction of sound 
when there is a mist or fog, the horn acting like an 
admiralty megaphone when used as an ear trum- 
pet, or like the topophone (double ear trumpet, 
the bells of which turn opposite ways) used for a 
fog-bound ship on British-American vessels to de- 
termine the direction of sound signals." 

It is, of course, well understood, and, on the 
publication of Mr. Wherry's hypothesis, was at 

310 



The Mountain Sheep and Its Range 

once suggested, that there are many species of wild 
sheep, and that the spiral of the horn of each 
species is a different one. Moreover, within each 
species there are of course different ages, and the 
spiral may differ with age and also at the same age 
to some extent with the Individual. In some cases, 
the ear perhaps lies at the apex of a cone formed 
by the horn, but in others it does not lie there. 
Moreover this hypothesis, like the other and older 
one, in which the horns were said to act as the 
jumping cushion, takes no account of the females 
and young, which in mists, fogs, and at other 
times, need protection quite as much as the adult 
males. The old males with large and perfect 
horns have to a large extent fulfilled the function 
of their lives — reproduction — and their place is 
shortly to be taken by younger animals growing 
up. Moreover they have reached the full measure 
of strength and agility, and through years of ex- 
perience have come to a full knowledge of the 
many dangers to which their race is exposed. It 
would seem extraordinary that nature should have 
cared so well for them, and should have left the 
more defenseless females and young unprotected 
from the dangers likely to come to them from ene- 
mies which may make sounds in a fog. 

The old males with large and perfect horns 

3" 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

have come to their full fighting powers, and do 
fight fiercely at certain seasons of the year. And it 
is believed by many people that the great develop- 
ment of horns among the mountain sheep is merely 
a secondary sexual character analogous to the 
antlers of the deer or the spurs of the cock. 

Most people who have hunted sheep much will 
believe that this species depends for its safety 
chiefly on its nose and its eyes. And if the observa- 
tions of hunters in general could be gathered and 
collated, they would probably agree that the 
female sheep are rather quicker to notice danger 
than the males, though both are quick enough. 

PROTECTION. 

It is gratifying to note that the rapid disappear- 
ance of the mountain sheep has made some impres- 
sion on legislators in certain States where it is 
native. Some of these have laws absolutely for- 
bidding the killing of mountain sheep; and while 
in certain places in all of such States and Terri- 
tories this law is perhaps lightly regarded, and not 
generally observed, still, on the whole, its effect 
must be good, and we may hope that gradually it 
will find general observance. The mountain sheep 
is so superb an animal that it should be a matter of 
pride with every State which has a stock of sheep 

312 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

within its borders to preserve that stock most 
scrupulously. It is said that in Colorado, where 
sheep have long been protected, they are notice- 
ably Increasing, and growing tamer. I have 
been told of one stock and mining camp, near 
Silver Plume, where there is a bunch of sheep abso- 
lutely protected by public sentiment, in which the 
miners, and in fact the whole community, take 
great pride and delight. 

It is fitting that on the statute books the moun- 
tain sheep should have better protection than most 
species of our large game, since there Is no other 
species now existing in any numbers which Is 
more exposed to danger of extinction. Destroyed 
on its old ranges, it is found now only in the 
roughest mountains, the bad lands, and the desert, 
and it Is sufficiently desirable as a trophy tO' be 
ardently pursued wherever found. 

Several States have been wise enough absolutely 
to protect sheep; these are North Dakota, Cali- 
fornia, Arizona, Montana, Colorado (until 
1907), Utah, New Mexico (until March i, 
1905), and Texas (until July, 1908). Three 
other States, South Dakota, Wyoming and Idaho, 
permit one mountain sheep to be killed by the 
hunter during the open season of each year. 
Oregon, which has a long season, from July 1 5 to 

313 



American Big Game In its Haunts 

November i, puts no limit on the number to be 
killed, while in Nevada there appears to be no 
protection for the species. 

If these protective laws were enforced, sheep 
would Increase, and once more become delightful 
objects of the landscape, as they have In portions 
of Colorado and in the National Park, where, as 
already stated, they are so tame during certain 
seasons of the year that they will hardly get out of 
the way. On the other hand, in many localities 
covered by excellent laws, there are no means of 
enforcing them. Montana, which perhaps has as 
many sheep as any State in the Union, does not, 
and perhaps cannot, enforce her law, the sheep liv^- 
ing In sections distant from the localities where 
game wardens are found, and so difficult to watch. 
In some cases where forest rangers are appointed 
game wardens, they are without funds for the trans- 
portation of themselves and prisoners over the one 
hundred or two hundred miles between the place of 
arrest and the nearest Justice of the Peace, and 
cannot themselves be expected to pay these ex- 
penses. In the summer of 1903 sheep were killed 
In violation of law In the mountains of Montana, 
and also In the bad lands of the Missouri River. 

On the other hand, in Colorado there are many 
places where the law protecting the sheep Is abso- 

314 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

lutely observed. Public opinion supports the law, 
and those disposed to violate it dare not do so for 
fear of the law. Near Silver Plume, already men- 
tioned, a drive to see the wild sheep come down 
to water is one of the regular sights offered to 
visitors, and while there may be localities where 
sheep are killed in violation of the law in Colo- 
rado, it is certain that there are many where the 
law is respected. 

There are still a few places where sheep may 
be found to-day, living somewhat as they used 
to live before the white men came into the western 
country. Such places are the extremely rough bad 
lands of the Missouri River, between the Little 
Rocky Mountains and the mouth of Milk River, 
where, on account of the absence of water on the 
upper prairie and the small areas of the bottoms 
of the Missouri River, there are as yet few settle- 
ments. The bad lands are high and rough, scarcely 
to be traversed except by a man on foot, and in 
their fastnesses the sheep — protected formally by 
State law, but actually by the rugged country — arc 
still holding their own. They come down to the 
river at night to water, and returning spend the 
day feeding on the uplands of the prairie, and rest- 
ing in beds pawed out of the dry earth of the 
washed bad lands, just as their ancestors did. 

31S 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

In old times this country abounded in buffalo, 
elk, deer of two species, sheep, and antelope, and 
if set aside as a State park by Montana, it would 
offer an admirable game refuge, and one still 
stocked with all Its old-time animals, except the 
elk and the buffalo. 

RANGE. 

The present range of the different forms of 
mountain sheep extends from Alaska and from the 
Pacific Ocean east to the Rocky Mountains — with 
a tongue extending down the Missouri River as 
far as the Little Missouri — south to Sonora and 
Lower California. The various forms from north 
to south appear to be Ball's sheep, the saddleback 
sheep, Stone's sheep, the common bighorn, with 
the Missouri River variety, existing to the east, in 
the bad lands, and with Nelson's, the Mexican and 
the Lower California sheep running southward 
Into Mexico. 

Among the experienced hunters of both forms 
of Ball's sheep are Messrs. Ball BeWeese, of 
Colorado, and A. J. Stone, Collector of Arctic 
Mammals for the American Museum of Natural 
History. Mr. Stone gives two distinct ranges for 
this sheep, ( i ) the Alaska Mountains and Kenai 
Peninsula, and (2) the entire stretch of the Rocky 

316 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

Mountains north of latitude 60 degrees to near 
the Arctic coast just at the McKenzie, reaching 
thence west to the headwaters of the Noatak and 
Kowak rivers that flow into Kotzebue Sound. 

Stone's sheep, which was described by Dr. 
Allen in 1897, came from the head of the Stickine 
River, and two years after its description Dr. J. 
A. Allen quotes Mr. A. J. Stone, the collector, as 
saying : "I traced the Ovis stonei, or black sheep, 
throughout the mountainous country of the head- 
waters of the Stickine, and south to the headwaters 
of the Nass, but could find no reliable information 
of their occurrence further south in this longitude. 
They are found throughout the Cassiar Moun- 
tains, which extend north to 61 degrees north lati- 
tude and west to 134 degrees west longitude. 
How much further west they may be found I have 
been unable to determine. Nor could I ascertain 
whether their range extends from the Cassiar 
Mountains into the Rocky Mountains to the north 
of Francis and Liard River. But the best infor- 
mation obtained led me to believe that it does not. 
They are found in the Rocky Mountains to the 
south as far as the headwaters of the Nelson and 
Peace rivers in latitude 56 degrees, but I proved 
conclusively that in the main range of the Rocky 
Mountains very few of them are found north of 

317 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

the Liard River. Where this river sweeps south 
through the Rocky Mountains to Hell's Gate, a 
few of these animals are founds as far north as 
Beaver River, a tributary of the Liard. None, 
however, are found north of this, and I am thor- 
oughly convinced that this is the only place where 
these animals may be found north of the Liard 
River. 

"I find that in the Cassiar Mountains and in the 
Rocky Mountains they everywhere range above 
timber line, as they do in the mountains of 
Stickine, the Cheonees, and the Etsezas. 

"Directly to the north of the Beaver River, and 
north of the Liard River below the confluence of 
the Beaver, we first meet with Ovis dalli." 

A Stony Indian once told me that in his country 
— the main range of the Rocky Mountains — there 
were two sorts of sheep, one small, dark in color, 
and with slender horns, which are seldom broken, 
and another sort larger and pale in color, with 
heavy, thick horns that are often broken at the 
point. He went on to say that these small black 
sheep are all found north of Bow River, Alberta, 
and that on the south side of Bow River the big 
sheep only occur. The country referred to all lies 
on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. The 
hunting ground of the Stonies runs as far north as 

318 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

Peace River, and it is hardly to be doubted that 
they know Stone's sheep. The Brewster Bros., of 
Banff, Alberta, inform me that Stone's sheep Is 
found on the head of Peace River. 

A dozen or fifteen years ago one of the greatest 
sheep ranges that was at all accessible was In the 
mountains at the head of the Ashnola River, In 
British Columbia, and on the head of the Methow, 
which rises in the same mountains and flows south 
Into Washington. This Is a country very rough 
and without roads, only to be traversed with a 
pack train. 

Mr. Lew Wilmot writes me that there are still 
quite a number of sheep ranging from Mt. 
Chapacca, up through the Ashnola, and on the 
headwaters of the Methow. Indeed, It Is thought 
by some that sheep are more numerous there now 
than they were a few years ago. In Dyche's 
"Campfires of a Naturalist" a record is given of 
sheep in the Palmer Lake region, at the east base 
of the Cascade range in Washington. 

The Rev. John McDougall, of Morley, Alberta, 
wrote me in 1899, in answer to inquiries as to the 
mountain sheep inhabiting the country ranged over 
by the Stony Indians, "that it is the opinion of 
these Indians that the sheep which frequent the 
mountains from Montana northward as far as our 

319 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

Indians hunt, are all of one kind, but that in locali- 
ties they differ in size, and somewhat in color. 

"They say that from the 49th parallel to the 
headwaters of the Saskatchewan River, sheep are 
larger than those in the Selkirks and coast ranges ; 
and also that as they go north of the Saskatchewan 
the sheep become smaller. As to color, they say 
that the more southerly and western sheep are the 
lighter; and that as you pass north the sheep are 
darker in color. These Stonies report mountain 
sheep as still to be found in all of the mountain 
country they roam in. Their hunting ground is 
about 400 miles long by 150 broad, and is prin- 
cipally confined to the Rocky Mountain range." 

In an effort to establish something of the range 
of the mountain sheep, during the very last years 
of the nineteenth century, I communicated with a 
large number of gentlemen who were either resi- 
dent in, or travelers through, portions of the West 
now or formerly occupied by the mountain sheep, 
and the results of these inquiries I give below : 

Prof. L. V. Pirsson, of Yale University, who 
has spent a number of years in studying the 
geology of various portions of the northern Rocky 
Mountains, wrote me with considerable fullness In 
1896 concerning the game situation in some of the 

front ranges of the Rockies, where sheep were 

320 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

formerly very abundant. In the Crazy Mountains 
he says he saw no sheep, and that while it was possi- 
ble they might be there, they must certainly be rare. 
In 1880 there were many sheep there. In the 
Castle Mountains none were seen, nor reported, 
nor any traces seen. The same is true of the Little 
Belt, Highwood, and Judith Mountains. He 
understood that sheep were still present in the bad 
lands; immediately about the mountains and east 
of them the country was too well settled for any 
game to live. Earlier, however, in the summer of 
1890, passing through the Snowy Mountains, 
which lie north of the National Park, sheep were 
seen on two occasions; a band of ten ewes and 
lambs on Sheep Mountain, and a band of seven 
rams on the head of the stream known as the Buf- 
falo Fork of the Lamar River. In 1893 an old 
ram was killed on Black Butte, at the extreme 
eastern end of the Judith Mountains, near Cone 
Butte, and it is quite possible that this animal had 
strayed out of the bad lands on the lower Mus- 
selshell, or on the Missouri. Even at that time 
there were said to be no sheep on the Little 
Rockies, Bearpaws, or Sweetgrass Hills. 

All the ranges spoken of were formerly great 
sheep ranges, and on all of them, many years ago, 
I saw sheep in considerable numbers. 

321 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

There are a very few sheep in the Wolf 
Mountains of Montana. 

There are still mountain sheep among the rough 
bad lands on both sides of the Missouri River, 
between the mouth of the Musselshell and the 
mouth of Big Dry. It is hard to estimate the 
number of these sheep, but there must be many 
hundreds of them, and perhaps thousands. As re- 
cently as August, 1900, Mr. S. C. Leady, a ranch- 
man In this region, advised me that he counted 
in one bunch, coming to water, forty-nine sheep. 

Mr. Leady further advised me that In his coun- 
try, owing to the sparse settlement, the game laws 
are not at all regarded, and sheep are hunted at all 
times of the year. The settlers themselves advo- 
cate the protection of the game, but there is really 
no one to enforce the laws. Recent advices from 
this country show that the conditions there are now 
somewhat improved. 

It Is probable that In suitable localities In the 
Missouri River bad lands sheep are still found In 
some numbers all the way from the mouth of the 
Little Missouri to the mouth of the Judith River. 

Mr. O. C. Graetz, now, or recently, of KIpp, 
Montana, advised me, through my friend, J. B. 
Monroe, that In 1894, In the Big Horn Mountains, 
Wyo., on the head of the Little Horn River, In 

322 



The Mountain Sheep and Its Range 

the rough and rolhng country he saw a band of 
eleven sheep. The same man tells me that also 
In 1894, in Sweetwater county, in Wyoming, near 
the Sweetwater River, south of South Pass, on a 
mountain known as Oregon Butte, he twice saw 
two sheep. The country was rolling and high, 
with scattering timber, but not much of it. In 
this country, and at that time, the sheep were not 
much hunted. 

Mr. Elwood Hofer, one of the best known 
guides of the West, whose home Is In Gardiner, 
Park county, Mont., has very kindly furnished 
me with Information about the sheep on the bor- 
ders of the Yellowstone National Park. Writing 
In May, 1898, he says: "At this time sheep are 
not numerous anywhere in this country, compared 
with what they were before the railroad (Northern 
Pacific Railroad) was built in 1881. In summer 
they are found In small bands all through the moun- 
tains, In and about the National Park. I found them 
all along the divide, and out on the spurs, between 
the Yellowstone and Stinking Water rivers, and on 
down between the Yellowstone and Snake rivers, 
on one side, and the south fork of Stinking Water 
River and the Wind River on the east. I found 
sheep at the extreme headwaters of the Yellow- 
stone, and of the Wind River, and the Buffalo 

323 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

Fork of Snake River. There are sheep in the 
Tetons, Gallatin-Madison range, and even on 
Mount Holmes. I have seen them around Electric 
Peak, and so on north, along the west side of the 
Yellowstone as far as the Bozeman Pass; but not 
lately, for I have not been in those mountains for 
a number of years. All along the range from the 
north side of the Park to within sight of Living- 
ston there are a few sheep. 

"On the Stinking Water, where I used to see 
bands of fifteen to twenty sheep, now we only see 
from three to five. Of late years I have seen very 
few large rams, and those only in the Park. Last 
summer Mr. Archibald Rogers saw a large ram at 
the headwaters of Eagle Creek, very close to the 
Park. In winter there are usually a few large 
rams in the Gardiner Canon. I hear that there 
are a few sheep out toward Bozeman, on Mt. 
Blackmore, and the mountains near there. 

"I believe that some of the reasons for the 
scarcity of mountain sheep in this country are these : 
First, the settlement of the plains country close to 
the mountains, prevents their going to their winter 
ranges, and so starves them; secondly, the same 
cause keeps them in the mountains, where the 
mountain lions can get at them; and thirdly, the 
scab has killed a good many. I do not think that 

324 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

the rifle has had much to do with destroying the 
sheep." 

Sheep were formerly exceedingly abundant in 
all the bad lands along the Yellowstone and Mis- 
souri rivers, and in the rough, broken country from 
Powder River west to the Big Horn. The Little 
Missouri country was a good sheep range, and 
also the broken country about Fort Laramie. In 
the Black Hills of Dakota they were formerly 
abundant, and also along the North Platte River, 
near the canons of the Platte, in the Caspar Moun- 
tain, and in all the rough country down nearly to 
the forks of the Platte. 

The easternmost locality which I have for the 
bighorn is the BIrdwood Creek in Nebraska. This 
lies just north of O'Fallon Station on the Union 
Pacific Railroad and flows nearly due south into 
the North Platte River. It is in the northwestern 
corner of Lincoln county, Nebraska, just west of 
the meridian of loi degrees. Here, in 1877, the 
late Major Frank North, well known to all men 
familiar with the West between the years i860 
and 1880, saw, but did not kill, a male mountain 
sheep. The animal was only 100 yards from 
him, was plainly seen and certainly recognized. 
Major North had no gun, and thought of killing 
the sheep with his revolver, but his brother, Luther 

325 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

H. North, who was armed with a rifle, was not far 
from him, and Major North dropped down out 
of sight and motioned his brother to come to him, 
so that he might kill it. By the time Luther had 
come up, the sheep had walked over a ridge and 
was not seen again, but there is no doubt as to its 
identification. It had probably come from Court 
House Rock in Scott's Bluff county, Nebraska, 
where there were still a few sheep as recently as 
twenty-five years ago. 

These animals were also more or less abundant 
along the Little Missouri River as late as the late 
'8o's, and perhaps still later. This had always 
been a favorite range for them, and in 1874 they 
were noticed and reported on by Government expe- 
ditions which passed through the country, and the 
hunters and trappers who about that time plied 
their trade along that river found them abundant. 
Mr. Roosevelt has written much of hunting them 
on that stream. 

The low bluffs of the Yellowstone River — In the 
days when that was a hostile Indian country, and 
only the hunter who was particularly reckless and 
daring ventured into It — were a favorite feeding 
ground for sheep. They were reported very 
numerous by the first expeditions that went up the 
river, and a few have been killed there within five 

326 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

or six years, although the valley is given over to 
farming and the upper prairie is covered with 
cattle. This used to be one of the greatest sheep 
ranges in all the West ; the wide flats of the river 
bottom, the higher table lands above, and the worn 
bad lands between, furnishing ideal sheep ground. 
The last killed there, so far as I know, were a ram 
and two ewes, which were taken about forty miles 
below Rosebud Station, on the river, in 1897 
or 1898. 

Of Wyoming, Mr. Wm. Wells writes: "I have 
only been up here in northwestern Wyoming' for a 
year, but from what I have seen, sheep are hold- 
ing their own fairly well, and may be increasing 
in places. In 1897, Mr. H. D. Shelden, of De- 
troit, Mich., and myself were hunting sheep just 
west of the headwaters of Hobacks River. There 
was a sort of knife-edge ridge running about fif- 
teen miles north and south, the summit of which 
was about 2,000 feet above a bench or table-land. 
The ridge was well watered, and in some places 
the timber ran nearly up to the top of the ridge. 
On this ridge there were about 100 sheep, divided 
Into three bands. Each band seemed to make Its 
home in a cup-like hollow on the east side of the 
ridge, about 500 feet below the crest, but the mem- 
bers of the different bands seemed to visit back 

Z2y 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

and forth, as the numbers were not always the 
same. 

"We could take our horses up into either one 
of the three hollows, and some of the sheep were 
so tame that we have several times been within 
fifty yards in plain sight, and had the sheep pay 
very little attention to us. In one instance two 
ewes and lambs went on ahead of us at a walk for 
several hundred yards, often stopping to look 
back; and in another a sheep, after looking at us, 
two horses and two dogs, across a canon 200 
yards wide, pawed a bed in the slide rock and lay 
down. In another case I drove about thirty head 
of ewes and lambs to within thirty-five yards of 
Mr. Shelden, and when he rose up In plain sight, 
they stood and looked at him. When he saw that 
there was no ram there, he yelled at them, upon 
which they ran off about 400 yards, and then stood 
and looked at us. 

"I do not think that these sheep had been 
hunted, until this time, for several years. As 
nearly as I could tell, they ranged winter and sum- 
mer on nearly the same ground. At the top of the 
range, facing the east, were overhanging ledges of 
rock, and under these the dung was two feet or 
more deep. 

"Either during the winter or early spring the 
328 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

sheep had been down in the timber on the east side 
of the ridge, as I found the remains of several, in 
the winter coat, that had been killed by cougars." 

Mr. D. C. Nowlin, of Jackson, Wyo., was good 
enough to write me in 1898, concerning the sheep 
in the general neighborhood of Jackson's Hole; 
that is to say, in the ranges immediately south of 
the National Park, a section not far from that'just 
described. He says: "In certain ranges near here 
sheep are comparatively plentiful, and are killed 
every hunting season. 

"Occasionally a scabby ram Is killed. I killed 
one here which showed very plainly the ravages 
of scab, especially around the ears, and on the neck 
and shoulders. Evidently the disease is identical 
with that so common among domestic sheep, and 
I have heard more than one creditable account of 
mountain sheep mingling temporarily with do- 
mestic flocks and thus contracting the scab. I am 
confident that the same parasite which is found 
upon scabby domestic sheep is responsible for the 
disease which affects the bighorn. It is not difficult 
to account for the transmission of the disease, as 
western sheep-men roam with their flocks at will, 
from the peach belt to timber line, regardless alike 
of the legal or inherent rights of man or beast. 
Partly through isolation, and partly through moral 

329 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

suasion by our people, no domestic sheep have In- 
vaded Jackson's Hole." 

Mr. Tra Dodge, of Cora, Wyo., in response to 
inquiries as to the sheep in his section of the coun- 
try, says: "Mountain sheep are, like most other 
game, where you find them; but their feeding 
grounds are mainly high table-lands, at the foot of, 
or near, high rocky peaks or ranges. These table- 
lands occur at or near timber line, varying one or 
two thousand feet either way. In this latitude 
timber line occurs at about 11,500 feet. In all 
the ranges in this locality, namely, the Wind River, 
Gros Ventre, and Uintah, water is found In abun- 
dance, and, as a rule, there is plenty of timber. I 
think I have more often found sheep in the timber, 
or below timber line, than at higher altitudes, 
although sometimes I have located the finest rams 
far above the last scrubby pine. 

"The largest bunch of sheep that I have seen 
was in the fall of 1893. ^ estimated the band at 
75 to 100. In that bunch there were no rams, 
and they remained in sight for quite a long time; 
so that I had a good opportunity to estimate them. 

"I do not profess to know where the majority 
of these sheep winter, but, undoubtedly, a great 
number winter on the table-lands before men- 
tioned, where a rich growth of grass furnishes an 

330 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

abundance of feed. At this altitude the wind 
blows so hard and continuously, and the snow is 
so light and dry, that there would be no time dur- 
ing the whole winter when the snow would lie on 
the ground long enough to starve sheep to death. 
Several small bunches of sheep winter on the Big 
Gros Ventre River. These, I think, are the same 
sheep that are found in summer time on the Gros 
Ventre range. I have occasionally killed sheep 
that were scabby, but I have no positive knowledge 
that this disease has killed any number of sheep. 
In the fall of 1894 I discovered eleven large ram 
skulls in one place, and since that time found four 
more near by. My first impression was that the 
eleven were killed by a snowslide, as they were at 
the foot of one of those places where snowslides 
occur, but finding the other four within a mile, and 
in a place where a snowslide could not have killed 
them, it rather dispelled my first theory. As 
mountain sheep can travel over snow drifts nearly 
as well as a caribou, I do not believe that they 
were stranded in a snowstorm and perished, and 
no hunter would have killed so great a number and 
left such magnificent heads. The scab theory is 
about the only solution left. The sheep are not 
hunted very much here, and I believe their greatest 
enemy is the mountain lion. 

33^ 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

"There is one isolated bunch of mountain sheep 
on the Colorado Desert, situated in Fremont and 
Sweetwater counties, Wyo., which seems to be 
holding its own against many range riders, meat 
and specimen hunters, as well as coyotes. They 
are very light in color, much more so than their 
cousins found higher up in the mountains, and 
locally they are called ibex, or white goats. The 
country they live in Is very similar to the bad 
lands of Dakota, and I dare say that their long 
life on the plains has created in them a distinct 
sub-species of the bighorn." 

The Colorado Desert is situated in Wyoming, 
between the Green River on the west, and the Red 
Desert on the east. The sheep are seen mostly on 
the breaks on Green River. They are sometimes 
chased by cowboys, but I have never known of one 
being caught in that way. 

I am told that in some bad lands In the Red 
Desert, locally known as Dobe Town, there Is a 
herd of wild sheep, which are occasionally pur- 
sued by range riders. Rarely one Is roped. 

Mr. Fred E. White, of Jackson, Wyo., advised 
me In 1898 of the existence of sheep In the moun- 
tains which drain Into Gros Ventre Fork, the heads 
of Green River and Buffalo Fork of Snake River. 
Mr. White was with the Webb party, some years 

332 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

ago, when they secured a number of sheep. The 
same correspondent calls attention to the very 
large number of sheep which in 1888, and for a 
few years thereafter, ranged in the high moun- 
tains between the waters of the Yellowstone and 
the Stinking Water. This is one of the countries 
from which sheep have been pretty nearly exter- 
minated by hunters and prospectors. 

Within the past twenty or thirty years mountain 
sheep have become very scarce in all of their old 
haunts in Wyoming and northern Colorado. This 
does not seem to be particularly due to hunting, 
but the sheep seem to be either moving away or 
dying out. Mr. W. H. Reed, in 1898, wrote me 
from Laramie, Wyo., saying: "At present there 
are perhaps thirty head on Sheep Mountain, 
twenty-two miles west of Laramie, Wyo. ; on the 
west side of Laramie Peak there are perhaps 
twenty head; on the east side of the Peak twelve 
to fifteen head, and near the Platte Canon, at the 
head of Medicine Bow River, there are fifteen. In 
1894 I saw at the head of the Green River, 
Hobacks River, and Gros Ventre River, between 
two and three hundred mountain sheep. There 
are sheep scattered all through the Wind River, 
and a very few in the Big Horn Mountains; but all 
are in small bunches, and these widely separated. 

333 



American Big Game In Its Haunts 

Some of the old localities where they were very 
abundant In the early '70's, but now are never 
seen, are Whalen Canon, Raw Hide Buttes, Hart- 
ville Mountains, thirty miles northwest of Ft. 
Laramie, Elk Mountains, and the adjacent hills 
fifteen miles east of Fort Steele, near old Fort 
Halleck. They seem to have disappeared also 
from the bad lands along Green River, south of 
the Union Pacific Railroad, from the Freezeout 
Hills, Platte Canon, at the mouth of Sweetwater 
River, from Brown's Canon, forty miles northwest 
of Rawlins, from the Seminole and Ferris Moun- 
tains, and from many other places In the middle 
and northeastern part of Wyoming." 

In Colorado, the mountains surrounding North 
Park and west to the Utah line, had many moun- 
tain sheep twenty-five years ago, but to-day old 
hunters tell me that there are only two places 
where one Is sure to find sheep. These are Hahn's 
Peak and the Rabbit Ears, two peaks at the south 
end of North Park. 

There were sheep in and about the Black Hills 
of Dakota as late as 1890, for Mr. W. S. Phillips 
has kindly Informed me that about June of that 
year he saw three sheep on Mt. Inyan Kara. 
These were the only ones actually seen during the 
summer, but they were frequently heard of from 

334 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

cattle-men, and Mr. Phillips considers It beyond 
dispute that at that time they ranged from Sun- 
dance, Inyan Kara and Bear Lodge Mountains — 
all on the western and southwestern slope of the 
Black Hills, on and near the Wyoming-Dakota 
line — on the east, westerly at least to Pumpkin 
Buttes and Big Powder River, and in the edge of 
the bad lands of Wyoming as far north as the Lit- 
tle Missouri Buttes, and south to the south fork of 
the Cheyenne River, and the big bend of the north 
fork of the Platte, and the head of Green River. 
This range is based on reports of reliable range 
riders, who saw them in passing through the 
country. It is an ideal sheep country — rough, 
varying from sage brush desert, out of which rises 
an occasional pine ridge butte, to bad lands, and 
the mountains of the Black Hills. There are 
patches of grassy, fairly good pasture land. The 
country is well watered, and there are many springs 
hidden under the hills which run but a short dis- 
tance after they come out of the ground and then 
sink. Timber occurs in patches and more or less 
open groves on the pine ridges that run sometimes 
for several miles in a continuous hill, at a height 
of from one to three or four hundred feet above 
the plain. The region is a cattle country. 

In 1893 and '97 fresh heads and hides were 

335 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

seen at Pocotello, Idaho, and at one or two other 
points west of there in the lava country along 
Snake River and the Oregon short line. The 
sheep were probably killed in the spurs and broken 
ranges that run out on the west flank of the main 
chain of the Rockies toward the Blue Mountains 
of Oregon. 

Mr. William Wells, of Wells, Wyo., has very 
kindly given me the following notes as to Colo- 
rado, where he formerly resided. He says: 
"During 1890, '91, '92, there were a good many 
mountain sheep on the headwaters of Roan Creek, 
a tributary of Grand River, in Colorado. Roan 
Creek heads on the south side of the Roan or Book 
Plateau, and flows south into Grand River. The 
elevation of Grand River at this point is about 
5,000 feet, and the elevation of the Book Plateau 
is about 8,500 feet. The side of the plateau to- 
ward Grand River consists of cliffs from 2,00a 
to 3,000 feet high, and as the branches of Roan 
Creek head on top of the plateau they form very 
deep box caiions as they cut their way to the 
river. It is on these cliffs and in these caiions 
that the sheep were found. I understand that 
there are some there yet^ but I have not been in 
that section since 1892. On all the cliffs are 
benches or terraces — a cliff of 300 to 1,000 feet 

336 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

at the top, then a bench, then another cliff, and 
so on to the bottom. The benches are well grassed, 
and there is more or less timber, quaking asp, 
spruce and juniper in the side caiions. There are 
plenty of springs along the cliffs, and as they face 
the south, the winter range is good. The top of 
the plateau is an open park country, and at that 
time was, and is yet, for that matter, full of deer 
and bear, but I never saw any sheep on top, though 
they sometimes come out on the upper edge of the 
cliffs. 

"There were, and I suppose are still, small 
bands of sheep on Dome and Shingle Peaks, on 
the headwaters of White River, in northwestern 
Colorado. 

"There was also a band of sheep on the Wil- 
liams River Mountains which lie between Bear 
River and the Williams Fork of Bear River, in 
northwestern Colorado, but these sheep were killed 
off about 1894 or '95. The Williams River 
Mountains are a low range of grass-covered hills, 
well watered, with broken country and cliffs on the 
south side, toward the Williams Fork. 

"It is also reported that there is a band of sheep 
in Grand River Caiion, just above Glenwood 
Springs, Colo., and sheep are reported to be on 
the increase in the Gunnison country, and other 

337 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

parts of southwestern Colorado, as that State pro- 
tects sheep." 

Mr. \V. J. Dixon, of Cimarron, Kan., wrote 
me in May, 1898, as follows: "In 1874 or '75 I 
killed sheep at the head of the north fork of the 
Purgatoire, or Rio de las Animas, on the divide be- 
tween the Spanish Peaks and main range of the 
Rocky Mountains, southwest by west from the 
South Peak. I was there also in November, 1892, 
and saw three or four head at a distance, but did 
not go after them. They must be on the Increase 
there." 

In 1899 there was a bunch of sheep in east 
central Utah, about thirty miles north of the sta- 
tion of Green River, on the Rio Grande Western 
Railroad, and on the west side of the Green River. 
These were on the ranch of ex-member of Con- 
gress, Hon. Clarence E. Allen, and were care- 
fully protected by the owners of the property. 
The ranch hands are Instructed not to kill or 
molest them In any manner, and to do nothing that 
will alarmx them. They come down occasionally 
to the lower ground, attracted by the lucerne, as 
are also the deer, which sometimes prove quite a 
nuisance by getting Into the growing crops. The 
sheep spend most of their time in the cliffs not far 
away. When first seen, about 1894, there were 

338 



The Mountain Sheep and Its Range 

but five sheep in the bunch, while in 1899 twenty 
were counted. This information was very kindly 
sent to me by Mr. C. H. Blanchard, at one time 
of Silver City, but more recently of Salt Lake 
City, in Utah. 

Mr. W. H. Holabird, formerly of Eddy, New 
Mexico, but more recently of Los Angeles, Cal., 
tells me that during the fall of 1896 a number of 
splendid heads were brought into Eddy, N. M. 
He is told that mountain sheep are quite numerous 
in the rugged ridge of the Guadeloupe Mountains, 
bands of from five to twelve being frequently seen. 
As to California, he reports: "We have a good 
many mountain sheep on the isolated mountain 
spurs putting out from the main ranges into the 
desert. I frequently hear of bands of two to ten, 
but our laws protect them at all seasons." 

My friend, Mr. Herbert Brown, of Yuma, 
Ariz., so well known as an enthusiastic and pains- 
taking observer of natural history matters, has 
kindly written me something as to the mountain 
sheep in that Territory. He says : "Under the 
game law of Arizona the killing of mountain 
sheep is absolutely prohibited, but that does not 
prevent their being killed. It does, however, pre- 
vent their being killed for the market, and it was 
killing for the market that threatened their exter- 

339 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

mination. So far as I have ever been able to learn, 
these sheep range, or did range, on all the moun- 
tains to the north, west, and south of Tucson, 
within a hundred miles or so. I loiow of them in 
the Superstition Mountains, about a hundred 
miles to the north; in the Quijotoas Mountains, 
a like distance to the southwest, and in the moun- 
tains intermediate; I have no positive proof of 
their existence in the Santa Ritas, but about twenty- 
three years, ago I saw a pair of old and weather- 
beaten horns that had been picked up in that range 
near Agua Caliente, that is about ten or twelve 
miles southwest of Mt. Wrightson. I never saw 
any sheep in the range, nor do I know of any one 
more fortunate than myself in that respect. In 
days gone by the Santa Catalinas, the Rincon, and 
the Tucson Mountains were the most prolific hunt- 
ing grounds for the market men. So far as I can 
remember, the first brought to the market here 
were subsequent to the coming of the railroad in 
1880. They were killed in the Tucson Mountains 
by the 'Logan boys,' well known hunters at that 
time. Later the Logans made a strike in the mines 
and disappeared. For several years no sheep were 
seen, but finally Mexicans began killing them in 
the Santa Catalinas, and occasionally six or eight 
would be hung up in the market at the same time. 

340 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

Later the Papago Indians in the southwest begaa 
killing them for the market. These people, as did 
also the Mexicans, killed big and little, and the 
animals, never abundant, were threatened with ex- 
termination. Those killed by the Logans came 
from the Tucson Mountains; those killed by the 
Mexicans from the Santa Catalinas, and those 
killed by the Indians probably from the Baboqul- 
varl or Comobabi ranges. I questioned the hun- 
ters repeatedly, but they never gave me a satisfac- 
tory answer. 

"Although I never saw the sheep, I have re- 
peatedly seen evidence of them in both the ranges 
named. Inasmuch as I have not seen one in 
several years past, I feel very confident that there 
are not many to see. Last year I learned of a large 
ram being killed in the Superstition Mountains 
which was alone when killed. About three years 
ago the head of a big ram was brought to this city. 
It is said to have weighed seventy pounds. I did 
not see it, nor did I learn where it came from. 

"The Superstition and the Santa Catalinas are 
the very essence of ruggedness, but notwithstand- 
ing this I am constrained to believe that the days 
of big game are nearly numbered in Arizona. The 
reasons for this are readily apparent. The moun- 
tain ranges are more or less mineralized. To this 

341 



American Big Game In its Haunts 

there is hardly an exception. There is no place so 
wild and forbidding that the prospector will not 
enter it. If 'pay rock' or 'pay dirt' is struck, then 
good-by solitude and big game. A second cause 
is to be found in the cattle industry, which, as a 
rule, is very profitable. One of the most success- 
ful cattle growers in the country once told me that 
cattle in Arizona would breed up to 95 per cent. 
These breeders during the dry season leave the 
mesas and climb to the top of the very highest 
mountains, and, of course, the more cattle the less 
game. A year ago I was in the Harshaw Moun- 
tains, and was told by a young man named Sorrell 
that a bunch of wild cattle occupied a certain peak, 
and that on a certain occasion he had seen a big 
mountain sheep with the cattle. 

"So far as I know, I never saw or heard of a 
case of scab among wild sheep." 

Later, but still in 1898, Mr. Brown wrote me 
that, according to Mr. J. D. Thompson, mountain 
sheep are common in all the mountains bordering 
the Gulf Coast in Sonora, and also in Lower Cali- 
fornia. Mr. Thompson is operating mines in the 
Sierra Pinto, Sonora, 180 miles southeast of 
Yuma. This range is about six miles long and 
800 feet high. The mule deer and sheep are 
killed according to necessity. Indians do the kill- 

342 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

ing. A mule deer is worth two dollars, Mexican 
money, and a sheep but little more, although the 
former are much more abundant than the latter. 
The last sheep taken to camp was traded off for a 
pair of overalls. 

"It is reasonably certain that with sheep in 
southern Arizona and southern Sonora, every 
mountain range between the two must be tenanted 
by this species. 

"During the August feast days the Papago In- 
dians living about Quitovac generally have a Mon- 
tezuma celebration, in which live deer are em- 
ployed. For this purpose several are caught. Sub- 
sequently they are killed and eaten. They are 
taken by relays of men or horses, sometimes both." 

In northern Arizona sheep are still common. 
Dr. C. Hart Merriam in his report on the San 
Francisco Mountain — "North American Fauna" 
III. — recorded the San Francisco herd, of which 
he saw eight or nine together. He also recorded 
their presence at the Grand Cafion, where they are 
still fairly common, though very wary. 

Mr. A. W. Anthony, of California, wrote me in 
1898 concerning sheep in southern California, and 
I am glad to quote his letter almost in full. He 
says : "In San Diego county, Cal., there are a few 
sheep along the western edge of the Colorado 

343 



American Big Game In Its Haunts 

Desert. So far as I know, these are all In the first 
ranges above the desert, and do not extend above 
the pinon belt. These barren hills are dry, broken 
and steep, with very little water, and except for the 
stock men, who have herds grazing on the western 
edge of the desert, they are very seldom disturbed. 
Along the line of the old Carrlso Creek stage road 
from Yuma to Los Angeles, between Warner 
Pass and the mouth of Carrlso Creek — where It 
reaches the desert — are several water holes where 
sheep have, up to 1897, at least, regularly watered 
during the dry season. 

"I have known of several being killed by stock 
men there during the past few years, by watching 
for them about the water. As a rule, the country 
Is too dry, open and rough to make still-hunting 
successful. At the same time I think they would 
have been killed off long since except for reinforce- 
ments received from across the line in Lower Cali- 
fornia. 

"Up to 1894 a few sheep were found as far up 
the range as Mt. Baldy, Los Angeles county, and 
they may still occur there, but I cannot be sure. 
One or two of the larger ranges west of the Colo- 
rado River, In the desert, were, two years ago, 
and probably are still, blessed with a few sheep. 
I have known of two or three parties that went 

344 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

after them, but they would not tell where they 
went; not far north of the Southern Pacific Rail- 
road, I think. 

"In Lower California sheep are still common in 
many places, but are largely confined to the east 
side of the peninsula, mostly being found in the 
low hills between the gulf and the main divide. A 
few reach the top of San Pedro Martir — 12,000 
feet — but I learn from the Indians they never 
were common in the higher ranges. The pifion 
belt and below seem to be their habitat, and in very 
dry, barren ranges. I have known a few to reach 
the Pacific, between 28 deg. n. lat. and 30 deg. n. 
lat, ; but they never seem at home on the western 
side of the peninsula. 

"Owing to their habitat, few whites care to 
bother them — it costs too much in cash, and more 
in bodily discomfort; but the natives kill them at 
all seasons; not enough, however, to threaten ex- 
termination unless they receive help from the 
north. 

"I have no knowledge of any scab, or other dis- 
ease, affecting the sheep, either in southern or 
Lower California." 

For northern California, records of sheep are 
few. Dr. Merriam, Chief of the Biological 
Survey, tells me that sheep formerly occurred on 

345 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

the Siskiyou range, on the boundary between Cali- 
fornia and Oregon, and that some years ago he 
saw an old ram that had been killed on these 
mountains. On Mt. Shasta they were very com- 
mon until recently. In the High Sierra, south of 
the latitude of Mono Lake, a few still occur, but 
there are extremely rare. 

In Oregon records are few. Dr. Merriam in- 
forms me that he has seen them on Steen Moun- 
tain, in the southeastern part of the State, where 
they were common a few years ago. Mr. Vernon 
Bailey, of the Biological Survey, has seen them also 
in the Wallowa Mountains. The Biological Survey 
also has records of their occurrence in the Blue 
Mountains, where they used to be found both on 
Strawberry Butte and on what are called the 
Greenhorn Mountains. The last positive record 
from that region is in 1895. I" ^^97 Mr. Ver- 
non Bailey reported sheep from Silver and x\bert 
Lakes in the desert region east of the Cascade. 
They were formerly numerous in the rocky regions 
about Silver Lake, and a few still inhabited the 
ridges northeast of Abert Lake. 

In Nevada Mr. Bailey found sheep in the 
Toyabe range. 

Mr. Bailey found sheep in the Seven Devils 
Mountains, and he and Dr. Merriam found them 

346 



The Mountain Sheep and its Range 

in the Salmon River, Pahsimerol and Sawtooth 
Mountains, all in Idaho. Mr. Bailey also found 
them in Texas in the Guadaloupe Mountains and 
in most of the ranges thence south to the boundary 
line in western Texas. 

From what has already been said it will be seen 
that in inaccessible places all over the western 
country, from the Arctic Ocean south to Mexico, 
and at one or two points in the great plains, there 
still remain stocks of mountain sheep. Once the 
most unsuspicious and gentle of all our large game 
animals, they have become very shy, wary, and 
well able to take care of themselves. In the Yel- 
lowstone Park, on the other hand, they have re- 
verted to their old time tameness, and no longer 
regard man with fear. There, as is told on other 
pages of this volume, they are more tame than the 
equally protected antelope, mule deer or elk. 

Should the Grand Canon of the Colorado be set 
aside as a national park, as it may be hoped it will 
be, the sheep found there will no doubt increase, 
and become, as they now are in the Yellowstone 
Park, a most interesting natural feature of the 
landscape. And in like manner, when game ref- 
uges shall be established in the various forest 
reservations all over the western country, this 

347 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

superb species will increase and do well. Alert, 
quick-witted, strong, fleet and active. It is one of 
the most beautiful and most imposing of Nortk 
American animals. Equally at home on the 
frozen snowbanks of the mountain top, or In the 
parched deserts of the south, dwelling alike among 
the rocks, in the timber, or on the prairie, the 
mountain sheep shows himself adaptable to all 
conditions, and should surely have the best pro- 
tection that we can give him. 

I shall never forget a scene witnessed many 
years ago, long before railroads penetrated the 
Northwest. I was floating down the Missouri 
River in a mackinaw boat, the sun just topping the 
high bad land bluffs to the east, when a splendid 
ram stepped out, upon a point far above the water, 
and stood there outlined against the sky. Motion- 
less, with head thrown back, and in an attitude of 
attention, he calmly inspected the vessel floating 
along below him; so beautiful an object amid his 
wild surroundings, and with his background of 
brilliant sky, that no hand was stretched out for 
the rifle, but the boat floated quietly on past him, 
and out of sight. 

George Bird Grinnell. 
348 




Merycodus osborni Matthew. 

From the Middle Miocene of Colorado. Discovered and described by 

Dr. W. D. Matthew. Mounted by Mr. Adam Hermann. 

Height at withers, 19 inches. Length of antlers, 9 inches. 



Preservation of the Wild Animals of 
North America* 



The National and Congressional movement for 
the preservation of the Sequoia in California 
represents a growth of intelligent sentiment. It is 
the same kind of sentiment which must be aroused, 
and aroused in time, to bring about Government 
legislation if we are to preserve our native ani- 
mals. That which principally appeals to us in the 
Sequoia is its antiquity as a race, and the fact that 
California is its last refuge. 

As a special and perhaps somewhat novel argu- 
ment for preservation, I wish to remind you of 
the great antiquity of our game animals, and the 
enormous period of time which it has taken nature 
to produce them. We must have legislation, and 
we must have it in time. I recall the story of the 
judge and jury who arrived in town and inquired 
about the security of the prisoner, who was known 
to be a desperate character; they were assured by 

♦Address before the Boone and Crockett Club, Washington, 
January 23, 1904. 

349 



American Big Game In Its Haunts 

the crowd that the prisoner was perfectly secure 
because he was safely hanging to a neighboring 
tree. If our preservative measures are not 
prompt, there will be no animals to legislate for. 

SENTIMENT AND SCIENCE. 

The sentiment which promises to save the 
Sequoia Is due to the spread of knowledge regard- 
ing this wonderful tree, largely through the efforts 
of the Division of Forestry. In the official chro- 
nology of the United States Geological Survey — 
which is no more nor less reliable than that of 
other geological surveys, because all are alike 
mere approximations to the truth — the Sequoia 
was a well developed race 10,000,000 of years 
ago. It became one of a large family, including 
fourteen genera. The master genus — the Sequoia 
— alone Includes thirty extinct species. It was dis- 
tributed in past times through Canada, Alaska, 
Greenland, British Columbia, across Siberia, and 
down into southern Europe. The Ice Age, and 
perhaps competition with other trees more success- 
ful in seeding down, are responsible for the fact 
that there are now only two living species — the 
"red wood," or Sequoia sempervirens, and the 
giant, or Sequoia gigantea. The last refuge of 
the gigantea Is In ten Isolated groves, In some of 

330 



Preservation of Our Wild Animals 

which the tree is reproducing itself, while in others 
it has ceased to reproduce. 

In the year 1900 forty mills and logging com- 
panies were engaged in destroying these trees. 

All of us regard the destruction of the Parthe- 
non by the Turks as a great calamity ; yet it would 
be possible, thanks to the laborious studies which 
have chiefly emanated from Germany, for modern 
architects to completely restore the Parthenon in 
its former grandeur; but it is far beyond the 
power of all the naturalists of the world to restore 
one of these Sequoias, which were large trees, over 
100 feet in height, spreading their leaves to the 
sun, before the Parthenon was even conceived by 
the architects and sculptors of Greece. 

LIFE OF THE SEQUOIA AND HISTORY OF THOUGHT. 

In 1900 five hundred of the very large trees still 
remained, the highest reaching from 320 to 325 
feet. Their height, however, appeals to us less 
than their extraordinary age, estimated by 
Hutchlns at 3,600, or by John Muir, who prob- 
ably loves them more than any man living, at from 
4,000 to 5,000 years. According to the actual 
count of Muir of 4,000 rings, by a method which 
he has described to me, one of these trees was 
1,000 years old when Homer wrote the Iliad; 

351 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

1,500 years of age when Aristotle was fore- 
shadowing his evolution theory and writing his 
history of animals; 2,000 years of age when Christ 
walked upon the earth; nearly 4,000 years of age 
when the "Origin of Species" was written. Thus 
the life of one of these trees spanned the whole 
period before the birth of Aristotle (384 B. C.) 
and after the death of Darwin (A. D. 1882), the 
two greatest natural philosophers who have lived. 
These trees are the noblest living things upon 
earth. I can imagine that the American people 
are approaching a stage of general intelligence 
and enlightened love of nature in which they will 
look back upon the destruction of the Sequoia as a 
blot on the national escutcheon. 

VENERATION OF AGE. 

The veneration of age sentiment which should, 
and I believe actually does, appeal to the Ameri- 
can people when clearly presented to them even 
more strongly than the commercial sentiment. Is 
roused in equal strength by an Intelligent appre- 
ciation of the race longevity of the larger animals 
which our ancestors found here in profusion, and 
of which but a comparatively small number still 
survive, To the unthinking man a bison, a wapiti, 
a deerj a pronghom antelope, is a matter of hide 

352 



Preservation of Our Wild Animals 

and meat ; to the real nature lover, the true sports- 
man, the scientific student, each of these types is 
a subject of intense admiration. From the 
mechanical standpoint they represent an architect- 
ure more elaborate than that of Westminster 
Abbey, and a history beside which human history 
is as of yesterday. 

SLOW EVOLUTION OF MODERN MAMMALS. 

These animals were not made in a day, nor In a 
thousand years, nor In a million years. As said 
the first Greek philosopher, Empedocles, who 560 
B. C. adumbrated the "survival of the fittest" 
theory of Darwin, they are the result of ceaseless 
trials of nature. While the Sequoia was first 
emerging from the Carboniferous, or Coal Period, 
the reptile-like ancestors of these mammals, cov- 
ered with scales and of egg-laying habits, were 
crawling about and giving not the most remote 
prophecy of their potential transformation through 
10,000,000 of years Into the superb fauna of the 
northern hemisphere. 

The descendants of these reptiles were trans- 
formed Into mammals. If we had had the oppor- 
tunity of studying the early mammals of the 
Rocky Mountain region with a full appreciation 
of the possibilities of evolution, we should have 

353 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

perceived that they were essentially of the same 
stock and ancestral to our modern types. There 
were little camels scarcely more than twelve inches 
high, little taller than cotton-tail rabbits and 
smaller than the jackass rabbits; horses 15 inches 
high, scarcely larger than, and very similar in 
build to, the little English coursing hound known 
as the whippet ; it is not Improbable that we shall 
find the miniature deer; there certainly existed 
ancestral wolves and foxes of similarly small pro- 
portions. You have all read your Darwin care- 
fully enough to know that neither camels, horses, 
nor deer would have evolved as they did except 
for the stimulus given to their limb and speed de- 
velopment by the contemporaneous evolution of 
their enemies In the dog family. 

THE MIDDLE STAGE OF EVOLUTION. 

A million and a half years later these same ani- 
mals had attained a very considerable size; the 
western country had become transformed by the 
elevation of the plateaux Into dry, grass-bearing 
uplands, where both horses and deer of peculiarly 
American types were grazing. We have recently 
secured some fresh light on the evolution of the 
American deer. Besides the Palaomeryx, which 
may be related to the true American deer Odocoi 

354 



Preservation of Our Wild Animals 

leus, we have found the complete skeleton of a 
small animal named Merycodus, nineteen inches 
high, possessed of a complete set of delicate 
antlers with the characteristic burr at the base indi- 
cating the annual shedding of the horn, and a gen- 
eral structure of skeleton which suggests our so- 
called pronghorn antelope, Antilocapra, rather 
than our true American deer, Odocoileus. This 
was in all probability a distinctively American 
type. Its remains have been found in eastern 
Colorado in the geological age known as Middle 
Miocene, w^hlch is estimated {suh rosa, like all 
our other geological estimates), at about a million 
and a half years of age. Our first thought as we 
study this small, strikingly graceful animal, is 
wonder that such a high degree of specialization 
and perfection was reached at so early a period; 
our second thought is the reverence for age 
sentiment. 

THE AFRICAN PERIOD IN AMERICA. 

The conditions of environment were different 
from what they were before or what they arc now. 
These animals flourished during the period in 
which western America must have closely re- 
sembled the eastern and central portions of Africa 
at the present time. 

355 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

This inference is drawn from the fact that 
the predominant fauna of America in the Middle 
and Upper Miocene Age and in the Pliocene was 
closely analogous to the still extant fauna of 
Africa. It is true we had no real antelopes in this 
country, in fact none of the bovines, and no 
giraffes ; but there was a camel which my colleague 
Matthew has surnamed the "giraffe camel," extra- 
ordinarily similar to the giraffe. There were no 
hippopotami, no hyraces. All these peculiarly 
African animals, of African origin, I believe, 
found their way intO' Europe at least as far as the 
Sivalik Hills of India, but never across the Bering 
Sea Isthmus. The only truly African animal 
which reached America, and which flourished here 
in an extraordinary manner, was the elephant, or 
rather the mastodon, if we speak of the elephant 
in its Miocene stage of evolution. However, the 
resemblance between America and Africa is 
abundantly demonstrated by the presence of great 
herds of horses, of rhinoceroses, both long and 
short limbed, of camels in great variety, including 
the giraffe-like type which was capable of brows- 
ing on the higher branches of trees, of small ele- 
phants, and of deer, which in adaptation to some- 
what arid conditions imitated the antelopes in 
general structure. 

356 



Preservation of Our Wild Animals 
ELIMINATION BY THE GLACIAL PERIOD. 

The Glacial Period eliminated half of this 
fauna, whereas the equatorial latitude of the fauna 
in Africa saved that fauna from the attack of the 
Glacial Period, which was so fatally destructive 
to the animals in the more northerly latitudes of 
America. The glaciers or at least the very low 
temperature of the period eliminated especially all 
the African aspects of our fauna. This destructive 
agency was almost as baneful and effective as the 
mythical Noah's flood. When it passed off, there 
survived comparatively few indigenous North 
American animals, but the country was repopu- 
lated from the entire northern hemisphere, so 
that the magnificent wild animals which our ances- 
tors found here were partly North American and 
partly Eurasiatic in origin. 

ELIMINATION BY MAN. 

Our animal fortune seemed to us so enormous 
that it never could be spent. Like a young rake 
coming Into a very large inheritance, we attacked 
this noble fauna with characteristic American im- 
providence, and with a rapidity compared with 
which the Glacial advance was eternally slow; 
the East went first, and In fifty years we have 
brought about an elimination in the West which 

357 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

promises to be even 'more radical than that effected 
by the ice. We are now beginning to see the end 
of the North American fauna; and if we do not 
move promptly, it will become a matter of history 
and of museums. The bison is on the danger line ; 
if it survives the fatal effects of its natural slug- 
gishness when abundantly fed, it still runs the 
more insidious but equally great danger of in- 
breeding, like the wild ox of Europe. The 
chances for the wapiti and elk and the western mule 
and black-tail deer are brighter, provided that wc 
move promptly for their protection. The prong- 
hdrn is a wonderfully clever and adaptive animal, 
crawling under barb-wire fences, and thus avoid- 
ing one of the greatest enemies of Western life. 
Last summer I was surprised beyond measure to 
see the large herds of twenty to forty pronghom 
antelopes still surviving on the Laramie plains, 
fenced in on all sides by the wires of the great 
Four-Bar Ranch, part of which I believe are 
stretched illegally. 

RECENT DISAPPEARANCE. 

I need not dwell on the astonishingly rapid 
diminution of our larger animals in the last few 
years; it would be like "carrying coals to New- 
castle" to detail personal observations before this 

358 



Preservation of Our Wild Animals 

Club, which is full of men of far greater expe- 
rience and knowledge than myself. On the White 
River Plateau Forest Reserve, which is destined 
to be the Adirondacks of Colorado, with which 
many of you are familiar, the deer disappeared in 
a period of four years. Comparatively few are 
left. 

The most thoroughly devastated country I 
know of is the Uintah Mountain Forest Reserve, 
which borders between southwestern Wyoming 
and northern Utah. I first went through this 
country in 1877. It was then a wild natural 
region ; even a comparatively few years ago it was 
bright with game, and a perfect flower garden. 
It has felt the full force of the sheep curse. I 
think any one of you who may visit this country 
now will agree that this is not too strong a term, 
and I want to speak of the sheep question from 
three standpoints : First, as of a great and legiti- 
mate industry in Itself; second, from the economic 
standpoint; third, from the standpoint of wild 
animals. 

GENERAL RESULTS OF GRAZING. 

The formerly beautiful Uintah Mountain range 
presents a terrible example of the effects of pro- 
longed sheep herding. The under foliage Is en- 

359 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

tirely gone. The sheep annually eat off the grass 
tops and prevent seeding down; they trample out 
of life what they do not eat; along the principal 
valley routes even the sage brush is destroyed. 
Reforesting by the upgrowth of young trees is still 
going on to a limited extent, but is In danger. The 
water supply of the entire Bridger farming coun- 
try, which is dependent upon the Uintah Moun- 
tains as a natural reservoir, is rapidly diminishing; 
the water comes in tremendous floods in the spring, 
and begins to run short in the summer, when it is 
most needed. The consequent effects upon both 
fish and wild animals are well known to you. No 
other animal will feed after the sheep. It is no 
exaggeration to say, therefore, that the sheep In 
this region are the enemies of every living thing. 

BALANCE OF NATURE. 

Even the owner cannot much longer enjoy his 
range, because he Is operating against the balance 
of nature. The last stage of destruction which 
these innocent animals bring about has not yet 
been reached, but It Is approaching; It Is the stage 
in which there is no food left for the sheep them- 
selves. I do not know how many pounds of food 
a sheep consumes in course of a year — It cannot be 
much less than a ton — but say it is only half a ton, 

360 



Preservation of Our Wild Animals 

how many acres of dry western mountain land are 
capable of producing half a ton a year when not 
seeding down? As long as the consumption ex- 
ceeds the production of the soil, it is only a ques- 
tion of time when even the sheep will no longer 
find subsistence. 

THE LAST STAGE TO BE SEEN IN THE ORIENT. 

While going through these mountains last sum- 
mer and reflecting upon the prodigious changes 
which the sheep have brought about in a few 
years, it occurred to me that we must look to 
Oriental countries in order to see the final results 
of sheep and goat grazing in semi-arid climates. 
I have proposed as an historical thesis a subject 
which at first appears somewhat humorous, 
namely, "The Influence of Sheep and Goats in 
History." I am convinced that the country lying 
between Arabia and Mesopotamia, which was 
formerly densely populated, full of beautiful 
cities, and heavily wooded, has been transformed 
less by the action of political causes than by the 
unrestricted browsing of sheep and goats. This 
browsing destroyed first the undergrowth, then 
the forests, the natural reservoirs of the country, 
then the grasses which held together the soil, and 
finally resulted in the removal of the soil itself. 

361 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

The country is now denuded of soil, the rocks are 
practically bare; it supports only a few lions, 
hyaenas, gazelles, and Bedouins. Even if the trade 
routes and mines, on which Brooks Adams in his 
"New Empire" dwells so strongly as factors of 
all civilization, were completely restored, the pop- 
ulation could not be restored nor the civilization, 
because there is nothing in this country for people 
to live upon. The same is true of North Africa, 
which, according to Gibbon, was once the granary 
of the Roman Empire. In Greece to-day the 
goats are now destroying the last vestiges of the 
forests. 

I venture the prediction that the sheep industry 
on naturally semi-arid lands is doomed; that the 
future feeding of both sheep and cattle will be on 
irrigated lands, and that the forests will be care- 
fully guarded by State and Nature as natural 
reservoirs. 

COMMERCIALISM AND IDEALISM. 

By contrast to the sheep question, which is a 
purely economic or utilitarian one, and will settle 
itself, if we do not settle it by legislation based on 
scientific observation, the preservation of the 
Sequoia and of our large wild animals is one of 
pure sentiment, of appreciation of the ideal side 

362 



Preservation of Our Wild Animals 

of life; we can live and make money without 
either. We cannot even use the argument which 
has been so forcibly used in the case of the birds, 
that the cutting down of these trees or killing of 
these animals will upset the balance of nature. 

I believe in every part of the country — East, 
West, North, and South — we Americans have 
reached a stage of civilization where if the matter 
were at issue the majority vote would unquestion- 
ably be, let us preserve our wild animals. 

We are generally considered a commercial peo- 
ple, and so we are ; but we are more than this, we 
are a people of ideas, and we value them. As 
stated in the preamble of the Sequoia bill Intro- 
duced on Dec. 8, 1903, we must legislate for the 
benefit and enjoyment of the people, and I may add 
for the greatest happiness of the largest number, 
not only of the present but of future generations. 

So far as my observation goes, preservation can 
only be absolutely insured by national legislation. 

GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION BY ENGLAND, 
BELGIUM, GERMANY. 

The English, a naturally law-abiding people, 
seem to have a special faculty for enforcing laws. 
By co-operation with the Belgian Government 
they have taken effective and remarkably succcss- 

363 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

ful measures for the protection of African game. 
As for Germany, in 1896 Mr. Gosselin, of the 
British Embassy in Berlin, reported as follows for 
German East Africa : 

That the question of preserving big game in 
German East Africa has been under the considera- 
tion of the local authorities for some time past, and 
a regulation has been notified at Dar-es-Salaam 
which it is hoped will do something toward check- 
ing the wanton destruction of elephants and other 
indigenous animals. Under this regulation every 
hunter must take out an animal license, for which the 
fee varies from 5 to 500 rupees, the former being the 
ordinary fee for natives, the latter for elephant and 
rhinoceros hunting, and for the members of sport- 
ing expeditions into the interior. Licenses are not 
needed for the purpose of obtaining food, nor for 
shooting game damaging cultivated land, nor for 
shooting apes, beasts of prey, wild boars, reptiles, 
and all birds except ostriches and cranes. Whatever 
the circumstances, the shooting is prohibited of all 
young game — calves, foals, young elephants, either 
tuskless or having tusks under three kilos, all female 
game if recognizable — except, of course, those in 
the above category of unprotected animals. Further, 
in the Moschi district of Kilima-Njaro, no one, 
whether possessing a license or not, is allowed with- 
out the special permission of the Governor to shoot 
antelopes, giraffes, buffaloes, ostriches, and cranes. 
Further, special permission must be obtained to hunt 

364 



Preservation of Our Wild Animals 

these with nets, by kindling fires, or by big drives. 
Those who are not natives have also to pay lOO 
rupees for the first elephant killed, and 250 for each 
additional one, and 50 rupees for the first rhinoceros 
and 150 for each succeeding one. Special game pre- 
serves are also to be established, and Major von 
Wissmann, in a circular to the local officers, explains 
that no shooting whatever will be allowed in these 
without special permission from the Government. 
The reserves will be of interest to science as a means 
of preserving from extirpation the rarer species, and 
the Governor calls for suggestions as to the best 
places for them. They are to extend in each direc- 
tion at least ten hours' journey on foot. He further 
asks for suggestions as to hippopotamus reserves, 
where injury would not be done to plantations. Two 
districts are already notified as game sanctuaries. 
Major von Wissmann further suggests that the 
station authorities should endeavor to domesticate 
zebras (especially when crossed with muscat and 
other asses and horses), ostriches, and hysena dogs 
crossed with European breeds. Mr. Gosselin 
remarks that the best means of preventing the 
extermination of elephants would be to fix by inter- 
national agreement among all the Powers on the East 
African coast a close time for elephants, and to 
render illegal the exportation or sale of tusks under 
a certain age. 

In December, 1900, Viscount Cranborne In the 

House of Commons reported as follows : 

365 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

* * * That regulations for the preservation of 
wild animals have been in force for some time in 
the several African Protectorates administered by 
the Foreign Office as well as in the Sudan. The 
obligations imposed by the recent London Con- 
vention upon the signatory Powers will not become 
operative until after the exchange of ratifications, 
which has not yet taken place. In anticipation, how- 
ever, steps have been taken to revise the existing 
regulations in the British Protectorates so as to bring 
them into strict harmony with the terms of the con- 
vention. The game reserves now existing in the 
several Protectorates are: In (a) British Central 
Africa, the elephant marsh reserve and the Shirwa 
reserve; in (b) the East Africa Protectorate, the 
Kenia District; in (c) Uganda, the Sugota game 
reserve in the northeast of the Protectorate; in (d) 
Somaliland, a large district defined by an elaborate 
boundary line described in the regulations. The 
regulations have the force of law in the Protectorates, 
and offenders are dealt with in the Protectorate 
Courts. It is in contemplation to charge special 
officers of the Administrations with the duty of watch- 
ing over the proper observance of the regulations. 
Under the East African game regulations only the 
officers permanently stationed at or near the Kenia 
reserve may be specially authorized to kill game in 
the reserve. 

Other effective measures have been taken in the 
Soudan district. Capt. Stanley Flower, Director 

366 



Preservation of Our Wild Animals 

of the Gizeh Zoological Gardens, made a very full 
report, which is quoted in Nature for July 25, 
1901, p. 318. 

STATE LAWS. 

The preservation of even a few of our wild 
animals is a very large proposition ; it is an under- 
taking the difficulty of which grows in magnitude 
as one comes to study it in detail and gets on the 
ground. The rapidly increasing legislation in the 
Western States is an indication of rapidly growing 
sentiment. A still more encouraging sign is the 
strong sympathy with the enforcement of the laws 
which we find around the National Park in 
Wyoming and Montana especially. State laws 
should be encouraged, but I am convinced that 
while effective in the East, they will not be effect- 
ive in the West in time, because of the scattered 
population, the greater areas of country involved, 
the greater difficulty of watching and controlling 
the killing, and the actual need of game for food 
by settlers. 

When we study the operation of our State laws 
on the ground we find that for various reasons 
they are not fully effective. A steady and in some 
cases rapid diminution of animals is going on so 
far as I have observed in Colorado and Wyoming ; 

367 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

cither the wardens strictly enforce the laws with 
strangers and wink at the breaking of them by 
residents, or they draw their salaries and do not 
enforce the laws at all.* 

THE VARIOUS CAUSES OF ELIMINATION. 

The enemies of our wild animals are numerous 
and constantly increasing. ( i ) There is first the 
general advance of what we call civilization, the 
fencing up of country which principally cuts off 
the winter feeding grounds. This was especially 

♦Addendum. — There is no question as to the good intention 
of State legislation. The chief difficulty in the enforcement 
of the law is that officers appointed locally, and partly from 
political reasons, shrink from applying the penalties of the law 
to their own friends and neighbors, especially where the ani- 
mals are apparently abundant and are sought for food. The 
honest enforcement of the law renders the officer unpopular, 
even if it does not expose him to personal danger. He is 
regarded as interfering with long established rights and cus- 
toms. The above applies to conscientious officers. Many local 
game wardens, as in the Colorado White River Plateau, for 
example, give absolutely no attention to their duties, and are 
not even on the ground at the opening of the season. In the 
Plateau in August, 1901, the laws were being openly and 
flagrantly violated, not only by visitors, but by residents. At 
the same time the National forest laws were being most 
strictly and intelligently enforced. There is no question what- 
ever that the people of various States can be brought to 
understand that National aid or co-operation in the protection 
of certain wild areas is as advantageous to a locality as 
National irrigation and National forest protection. It is to 
be sought as a boon and not as an infringement. 

.168 



Preservation of Our Wild Animals 

seen in the country south of the National Park last 
winter. ( 2 ) The destruction of natural browsing 
areas by cattle and sheep, and by fire. (3) The 
destruction of game by sportsmen plays a com- 
paratively small part In the total process of elim- 
ination, yet in some cases It is very reckless, 
and especially bad in its example. When I first 
rode into the best shooting country of Colorado 
in 1 90 1, there was a veritable cannonading going 
on, which reminded me of the accounts of the bat- 
tle of El Caney. The destruction effected by one 
party In three days was tremendous. In riding 
over the ground — for I was not myself shooting — 
I was constantly coming across the carcasses of 
deer. (4) The summer and winter killing for 
food; this Is the principal and In a sense the most 
natural and legitimate cause, although It Is largely 
illegal. In this same area, which was more or less 
characteristic and typical of the other areas, even 
of the conditions surrounding the national reserve 
in the Big Horn region, the destruction was, and 
Is, going on principally during the winter when the 
deer are seeking the winter ranges and when they 
are actually shot and carted away in large numbers 
for food both for the ranchmen and for neighbor- 
ing towns. Making all allowances for exaggera- 
tion, I believe it to be absolutely true that these 

369 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

deer were being killed by the wagonloadl The 
same is true of the pronghorn antelope in the 
Laramie Plains district. The most forceful argu- 
ment against this form of destruction is that it is 
extremely short-lived and benefits comparatively 
few people. This argument is now enforced by 
law and by public sentiment in Maine and New 
York, where the wild animals, both deer and 
moose, are actually increasing in number. 

Granted, therefore, that we have both National 
and State sentiment, and that National legislation 
by co-operation with the States, if properly under- 
stood, would receive popular support, the carrying 
out of this legislation and making it fully effective 
will be a difficult matter. 

It can be done, and, in my judgment, by two 
measures. The first is entirely familiar to you: 
certain or all of the forest reserves must be made 
animal preserves; the forest rangers must be made 
game wardens, or special wardens must be ap- 
pointed. This is not so difficult, because the 
necessary machinery is already at hand, and only 
requires adaptation to this new purpose. It can 
probably be carried through by patience and good 
judgment. Second, the matter of the preservation 
of the winter supply of food and protection of ani- 
mals while enjoying this supply is the most difficult 



Preservation of Our Wild Animals 

part of the whole problem, because It involves the 
acquisition of land which has already been taken 
up by settlers and which is not covered by the 
present forest reserve machinery, and which I fear 
in many instances will require new legislation. 

Animals can change their habits during the 
summer, and have already done so; the wapiti, 
buffalo, and even the pronghorn have totally 
changed their normal ranges to avoid their new 
enemy ; but in winter they are forced by the heavy 
snows and by hunger right down into the enemy's 
country. 

Thus we not only have the problem of making 
game preserves out of our forest reserves, but we 
have the additional problem of enlarging the area 
of forest reserves so as to provide for winter feed- 
ing. If this is not done all the protection which 
is afforded during the summer will be wholly 
futile. This condition does not prevail in the 
East, in Maine and In the Adirondacks, where 
the winter and summer ranges are practically 
similar. It is, therefore a new condition and a 
new problem. 

Greater difficulties have been overcome, how- 
ever, and I have no doubt that the members 
of this Club will be among the leaders in 
the movement. The whole country now applauds 

371 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

the development and preservation of the Yellow- 
stone Park, which we owe largely to the initiative 
of Phillips, Grinnell, and Rogers. Grant and La 
Farge were pioneers in the New York Zoological 
Park movement. We know the work of Merriam 
and Wadsworth, and we always know the sympa- 
thies of our honored founder, member, and guest 
of this evening, Theodore Roosevelt. 

What the Club can do is to spread information 
and thoroughly enlighten the people, who always 
act rightly when they understand. 

It must not be put on the minutes of the his- 
tory of America, a country which boasts of Its 
popular education, that the Sequoia, a race 
10,000,000 years old, sought its last refuge in the 
United States, with individual trees older than the 
entire history and civilization of Greece, that an 
appeal to the American people was unavailing, 
that the finest grove was cut up for lumber, 
fencing, shingles, and boxes! It must not be 
recorded that races of animals representing stocks 
3,000,000 years of age, mostly developed on the 
American continent, were eliminated in the course 
of fifty years for hides and for food in a country 
abounding in sheep and cattle. 

The total national investment in animal preser- 
vation will be less than the cost of a single battle- 

372 



Preservation of Our Wild Animals 

ship. The end result will be that a hundred years 
hence our descendants will be enjoying and bless- 
ing us for the trees and animals, while, in the other 
case, there will be no vestige of the battleship, be- 
cause it will be entirely out of date in the warfare 
of the future. 

Henry Fairfield Osborn, 



srs 



Distribution of the Moose 



Republished by permission from the Seventh Annual Report of the Forest, 
Fish and Game Commission of the State of New York. 



The Scandinavian elk, which is closely related 
to the American moose, was known to classical an- 
tiquity as a strange and ungainly beast of the far 
north; especially as an inhabitant of the great Teu- 
toborgian Forest, which spread across Germany 
from the Rhine to the Danube. The half mythical 
character which has always clung to this animal is 
well illustrated In the following quotation from 
Pliny's Natural History, Book 8, chapter i6: 

"There is also the achlis, which is produced In 
the island of Scandinavia. It has never been seen 
In this city, although we have had descriptions of it 
from many persons ; it is not unlike the elk, but has 
no joints in the hind leg. Hence it never lies 
down, but reclines against a tree while it sleeps; it 
can only be taken by previously cutting into the } 
tree, and thus laying a trap for it, as, otherwise. It 
would escape through its swiftness. Its upper lip 
is so extremely large, for which reason It Is obliged 
to go backwards when grazing; otherwise by mov- 
ing onwards, the lip would get doubled up." 
Pliny's achlis and elk were the same animal. 

374 



Distribution of the Moose 

The strange stiffness of joint and general un- 
gainliness of the elk, however, were matters of 
such general observation as to apparently have be- 
come embodied In the German name eland, suf- 
ferer. Curiously enough this name eland was 
taken by the Dutch to South Africa, and there ap- 
plied to the largest and handsomest of the bovine 
antelopes, Oreas canna. 

In mediaeval times there arc many references in 
hunting tales to the elk, notably In the passage in 
the Nibelungen Lied describing Siegfried's great 
hunt on the upper Rhine, in which he killed an elk. 
Among the animals slain by the hero is the 
"schelk," described as a powerful and dangerous 
beast. This name has been a stumbling block to 
scholars for years, and opinions vary as to whether 
It was a wild stallion — at all times a savage animal 
— or a lone survivor of the Megaceros, or Irish 
elk. In this connection it may be well to remark 
that the Irish elk and the true elk were not closely 
related beyond the fact that both were members of 
the deer family. The Irish elk, which was com- 
mon in Europe throughout the glacial and post- 
glacial periods, living down nearly or quite to the 
historic period, was nothing more than a gigantic 
fallow deer. 

The old world elk is still found in some of the 

375 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

large game preserves of eastern Germany, where 
the Emperor, with his somewhat remarkable ideas 
of sportsmanship, annually adds several to his list 
of slaughtered game. They are comparatively 
abundant in Scandinavia, especially in Norway, 
where they are preserved with great care. They 
still survive in considerable numbers in Russia and 
Siberia as far east as Amurland. 

Without going into a detailed description of the 
anatomical differences between the European elk 
and the American moose, it may be said that the 
old world animal is much smaller in size and 
lighter in color. The antlers are less elaborate 
and smaller in the European animal, and corre- 
spond to the stage of development reached by the 
average three-year-old bull of eastern Canada. 
There is a marked separation of the main antler 
and the brow antlers. That this deterioration of 
both body and antlers is due partly to long con- 
tinued elimination of the best bulls, and partly to 
inbreeding, is probable. We know that the de- 
cline of the European red deer is due to these 
causes, and that a similar process of deterioration 
is showing among the moose in certain outlying 
districts in eastern North America. 

The type species of this group, known as Alcrs 
machlis, was long considered by European natural- 

37^ 




tq 



Distribution of the Moose 

ists uniform throughout Its clrcumpolar distribu- 
tion, in the north of both hemispheres. The 
American view that practically all animals in this 
country represent species distinct from their 
European congeners is now generally accepted, 
and the name Alces americaniis has been given to 
the American form. It would appear, however, 
that the generic name Alces must soon be replaced 
by the earlier form Paralces. 

The comparatively slight divergence of the two 
types at the extreme east and west limits of their 
range, namely, Norway and eastern Canada, 
would indicate that the period of separation of the 
various members of the genus Is not, geologically 
speaking, of great antiquity. 

The name moose is an Algonquin word, mean- 
ing a wood eater or browser, and is most appro- 
priate, since the animal is pre-eminently a creattire 
of the thick woods. The old world term elk was 
applied by the English settlers, probably in Vir- 
ginia, to the wapiti deer, an animal very closely re- 
lated to the red deer of Europe. In Canada the 
moose is sometimes spoken of as the elk, and even 
In the Rocky Mountain region one hears occasion- 
ally of the "flat-horned elk." We are fortunate 
in possessing a native name for this animal, and to 
call it other than moose can only create confusion. 

277 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

The range of the moose in North America ex- 
tends from Nova Scotia in the extreme east, 
throughout Canada and certain of the Northern 
United States, to the limits of tree growth in the 
west and north of Alaska. Throughout this vast 
extent of territory but two species are recognized, 
the common moose, Alces americantis, and the 
Alaska moose, -<^/c^5^f^^5, of the Kenai Peninsula. 
What the limits of the range of the Alaska moose 
are, may not be known for some years. Specimens 
obtained in the autumn of 1902 from the head- 
waters of the Stikine River in British Columbia, 
appear to resemble closely, in their large size and 
dark coloration, the moose of the Kenai Peninsula. 
The antlers, however, are much smaller. These 
specimens also differ from the eastern moose in the 
same manner as does the Kenai Peninsula animal, 
except in the antlers, which approximate to those 
of the type species. 

I have no doubt that the moose on the main- 
land along Cook Inlet will prove to be identical 
with those of the Kenai Peninsula irself, but how 
far their range extends we have at present no 
means of knowing. It is even possible that further 
exploration will bring to light other species in 
the Northwestern Provinces and In Alaska. 

Taking up this range in detail, the Nova Scotia 

378 



Distribution of the Moose 

moose are to-day distinctly smaller than their kin 
in Ontario, but are very numerous when the settled 
character of the country Is taken into consideration. 
I have seen very few good antlers come from this 
district, and In my opinion the race there is show- 
ing decided signs of deterioration. 

These remarks apply, but with less force, to 
New Brunswick and to Maine, where the moose, 
though larger than the Nova Scotia animal, are 
distinctly Inferior to those of the region north of 
the Great Lakes. This is probably due to killing 
off the big bulls, thus leaving the breeding to be 
done by the smaller and weaker bulls ; and, also, to 
inbreeding. 

In Maine the moose originally abounded, but by 
the middle of the last century they were so reduced 
in numbers as to be almost rare. Thanks to very 
efficient game laws, backed by an intelligent public 
opinion, moose have greatly increased during the 
last few days In Maine and also In New Brunswick. 
Their habits have been modified, but as far as the 
number of moose and deer are concerned, the pro- 
tection of game in Maine has been a brilliant ex- 
ample to the rest of the country. During the same 
period, however, caribou have almost entirely 
disappeared. 

Moose were found by the first settlers in New; 

379 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

Hampshire and Vermont, appearing occasionally, 
as migrants only, in the Berkshire hills of Massa- 
chusetts. In the State of New York the Catskills 
appear to have been their extreme southern limit 
in the east; but they disappeared from this district 
more than a century ago. In the Adirondacks, or 
the North Woods, as they were formerly called, 
moose abounded among the hard wood ridges and 
lakes. This was the great hunting country of the 
Six Nations. Here, too, many of the Canadian 
Indians came for their winter supply of moose 
meat and hides. The rival tribes fought over these 
hunting grounds much in the same manner as the 
northern and southern Indians warred for the con- 
trol of Kentucky. 

Going westward in the United States we find no 
moose until we reach the northern peninsula of 
Michigan and northern Wisconsin, where moose 
were once numerous. They are still abundant in 
northern Minnesota, where the country is ex- 
tremely well suited to their habits. Then there is a 
break, caused by the great plains, until we reach 
the Rocky Mountains. They are found along the 
mountains of western Montana and Idaho as far 
south as the northwest corner of Wyoming in the 
neighborhood of the Yellowstone Park, the Tetons 
and the Wind River Mountains being their south- 

380 



Distribution of the Moose 

ern limit in this section.* The moose of the west 
are relatively small animals with simple antlers, 
and have adapted themselves to mountain living 
in striking contrast to their kin In the east. 

North of the Canadian boundary we may start 
with the curious fact that the great peninsula of 
Labrador, which seems in every way a suitable lo- 
cality for moose, has always been devoid of them. 
There Is no record of their ever appearing east of 
the Saguenay River, and this fact accounts for 
their absence from Newfoundland, which received 
its fauna from the north by way of Labrador, and 
not from the west by way of Cape Breton. New- 
foundland is well suited to the moose, and 
a number of Individuals have been turned loose 
there, without, as yet, any apparent results. Sys- 
tematic and persistent effort, however, in this 
direction should be successful. 

South of the St. Lawrence River, the peninsula 
of Gaspe was once a favorite range, but the moose 
were nearly killed off in the early '6o's by hide- 
hunters. Further west they are found In small 
numbers on both banks of the St. Lawrence well 
back from the settlements, until on the north shore 

*William Roland, an old-time mountaineer, states that he 
once killed a moose about ten miles north of old Ft. Tet- 
terman, in what is now Wyoming. — Editor. 

381 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

we reach Trols Rivieres, west of which they be- 
come more numerous. 

The region of the upper Ottawa and Lake Kip- 
pewa has been in recent years the best moose coun- 
try in the east. The moose from this district 
average much heavier and handsomer antlers than 
those of Maine and the Maritime Provinces. 
However, the moose are now rapidly leaving this 
country and pushing further north. Twenty-five 
years ago they first appeared, coming from the 
south, probably from the Muskoka Lake country, 
into which they may have migrated in turn from 
the Adirondacks. This northern movement has 
been going on steadily within the personal knowl- 
edge of the writer. Ten years ago the moose were 
practically all south and east of Lake Kippewa, 
now they are nearly all north of that lake, and ex- 
tend nearly, if not quite, to the shores of James 
Bay. How far to the west of that they have 
spread we do not know ; but it is probable that they 
are reoccupying the range lying between the shores 
of Lake Superior and James Bay, which was 
long abandoned. Northwest of Lake Superior, 
throughout Manitoba and far to the north, is a 
region heavily wooded and studded with lakes, 
constituting a practically untouched moose country. 

No moose, of course, are found in the plains 
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Distribution of the Moose 

country of Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, and Alberta ; 
but east in Keewatin, and to the north in Atha- 
baska, northern British Columbia, and northwest 
into Alaska we have an unbroken range, in which 
moose are scattered everywhere. They are in- 
creasing wherever their ancient foe, the Indian, is 
dying off, and where white hunters do not pursue 
too persistently. In this entire region, from the 
Ottawa in the east to the Kenai Peninsula in the 
far west, moose are retiring toward the north be- 
fore the advance of civilization, and are every- 
where occupying new country. 

Wary and keen, and with great muscular 
strength and hardihood, the moose is pitting his 
acute senses against the encroaching rifleman in 
the struggle for survival, and it is fair to believe 
that this superb member of the deer family will 
continue to be an inhabitant of the forest long after 
most other members of the group have disappeared. 

The moose of Maine and the Maritime Prov- 
inces occupy a relatively small area, surrounded on 
all sides by settlements, which prevent the animals 
from leaving the country when civilization en- 
croaches. In this district their habits have been 
greatly modified. They do not show the same fear 
of the sound of rifle, of the smell of fire, or even of 
the scent of human footsteps, as in the wilder por- 

383 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

tlons of the country. In consequence of this 
change of habit, it is difficult for a hunter, whose 
experience is limited to Maine or the Maritime 
Provinces, to appreciate how very shy and wary 
a moose can be. 

In the upper Ottawa country, when they first be- 
gan to be hunted by sportsmen, the writer remem- 
bers landing from his canoe on the bank of a 
small stream, and walking around a marsh a few 
acres in extent to look at the moose tracks. Fresh 
signs, made that morning, were everywhere in evi- 
dence, and it had apparently been a favorite resort 
all summer. Snow fell that night and remained 
continuously on the ground for two weeks, when 
the writer again passed by this swamp and found 
that during the interval it had not been visited by 
a single moose. The moccasin tracks had been 
scented, and the moose had left the neighborhood. 
A moose with a nose as sensitive as this would find 
existence unendurable in New Brunswick or 
Maine. 

I have already referred to the relative size of 
the antlers of the moose from different localities, 
and called attention to the inferiority of the heads 
from the extreme east. Large heads have, how- 
ever, come from this section, and even now one 
hears of several heads being taken annually in 

384 



Distribution of the Moose 

New Brunswick running to five feet and a little 
over in spread. The test of the value of a moose 
head is the width of its antlers between the ex- 
treme points. The antlers of a young individual 
show but few points, but these are long and the 
webbing on the main blade is narrow. The brow 
antlers usually show two points. As the moose 
grows larger the palmation becomes wider, and the 
points more numerous but shorter, until in a very 
old specimen the upper part of the antler is merely 
scalloped along the edge, and the web is of great 
breadth. In the older and finer specimens the 
brow antlers are more complex, and show three 
points instead of two. 

A similar change takes place in the bell. This 
pendulous gland is long and narrow in the young 
bull, but as he ages it shortens and widens, be- 
coming eventually a sort of dewlap under the 
throat. 

One of the best heads from Maine that I can 
recall, was in the possession of the late Albert 
Bierstadt, a member of the Boone and Crockett 
Club. The extreme spread of these antlers 
was 6^}i inches. This bull was killed in New 
Brunswick, near the Maine line, some twenty years 
ago; another famous Maine head was presented 
to President Cleveland during his first term. Pho- 

38s 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

tographs of both of these heads appear herewith. 
Many very handsome heads have been taken in the 
Ottawa district, sometimes running well over five 
feet. It is safe to assume that a little short of six 
feet is the extreme width of an eastern head. 

The moose of the Rocky Mountains are rela- 
tively smaller than the eastern moose, and their 
antlers are seldom of imposing proportions. 

As we go north into British Columbia, through 
the headwaters of the Peace and Liard rivers, the 
animal becomes very large in size, perhaps larger 
than anywhere else in the world as far as his body 
is concerned, and it is highly probable that some- 
where in this neighborhood the range of the giant 
Alaska moose begins. The species, however, does 
not show great antler development in this locality, 
but for some reason the antlers achieve their maxi- 
mum development in the Kenai Peninsula. 

In the Kenai Peninsula and the country around 
Cook Inlet, Alaska, with an unknown distribu- 
tion to south and east, we find the distinct species 
recently described as Alces gigas. The animal 
itself has great bulk, but perhaps not more so than 
the animals of the Cassiar Mountains, to which 
it is closely related. The antlers of these 
Alaska moose are simply huge, running, on the 
average, very much larger and more complex than 

386 




^\.y^ 




ft m 



Distribution of the Moose 

even picked heads from the east. These antlers, 
in addition to their size, have a certain peculiarity 
in the position of the brow antlers, the plane of 
which is more often turned nearly at right angles 
to the plane of the palmation of the main beam 
than in the eastern moose. In a high percentage 
of the larger heads there is on one or both antlers 
an additional and secondary palmation. In the 
arrangement and development of the brow antlers, 
and in the complexity produced by this doubling 
of the beam, a startling resemblance is shown to 
the extinct Cervalces, a moose-fike deer of the 
American Pleistocene, possibly ancestral to the 
genus Alces. If this resemblance indicates any 
close relationship, we have in the Alaska moose a 
survivor of the archaic type from which the true 
moose and Scandinavian elk have somewhat de- 
generated. The photographs of the Alaska moose 
shown herewith have this double palmation. 

Several heads from the Kenai Peninsula rang- 
ing over six feet are authentic; a photograph of 
the largest moose head In the world is published 
herewith. This head is in the possession of the 
Field Columbian Museum at Chicago, and 
measures 78^ inches spread. The animal that 
bore It stood about seven feet at shoulders, but 
this height Is not Infrequently equaled by eastern 

387 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

moose. The weight of the dried skull and antlers 
was ninety-three pounds, the palmation being in 
places 2}i inches thick. 

There are several large heads in the possession 
of American taxidermists, which, if properly 
authenticated, would prove of interest. No head, 
however, is of much value as a record unless its 
history is well known, and unless it has been in the 
hands of responsible persons. The measurements 
of antler spread can be considered authentic only 
when the skull is intact. If the skull is split an 
almost Imperceptible paring of the skull bones at 
the joint would suffice to drop the antlers either 
laterally out of their proper plane, or else pitch 
the main beam backward. By either of these de- 
vices a couple of inches can be gained on each 
side, making a difference of several inches in the 
aggregate. But the possession of an unbroken 
skull Is by no means a guarantee of the exact size 
of the head when killed. 

Since large antlers, and especially so-called 
"record heads," of any species of deer command 
a price among those who desire to pose as sports- 
men, and have not the strength or skill to hunt 
themselves, It has become a regular business for 
dealers to buy up unusual heads. The temptation 
to tamper with such a head and increase its size is 



Distribution of the Moose 

very great, and heads passing through the hands of 
such dealers must be discarded as of little scientific 
value. A favorite device is to take a green head, 
force the antlers apart with a board and a wedge 
every few days during the winter. By spring the 
skull and antlers are dry and the plank can be re- 
moved. The spread of antlers has meantime 
gained several inches since the death of the animal 
that bore them. Such a device is almost beyond 
detection. 

It is an exceedingly difficult matter to formulate 
a code of hunting ethics, still harder to give them 
legal force; but public opinion should condemn 
the kind of sportsmanship which puts a price on 
antlers. As trophies of the chase, hard won 
through the endurance and skill of the hunter, 
they are legitimate records of achievement. The 
higher the trophy ranks in size and symmetry, the 
greater should be its value as an evidence of 
patient and persistent chase. To slay a full grown 
bull moose or wapiti in fair hunt Is in these days 
an achievement, for there is no royal road to suc- 
cess with the rifle, nor do the Happy Hunting 
Grounds longer exist on this continent; but to kill 
them by proxy, or buy the mounted heads for 
decorative purposes in a dining room, in feeble 
imitation of the trophies of the baronial banquet 

389 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

hall, is not only vulgar taste, but is helping along 
the extermination of these ancient types. An ani- 
mal like the moose or the wapiti represents a line 
of unbroken descent of vast antiquity, and the 
destruction of the finest members of the race to 
decorate a hallway cannot be too strongly 
condemned. 

The writer desires to express his thanks for 
photographs and information used in this article 
to Dr. J. A. Allen, of the American Museum of 
Natural History, New York City; Dr. Daniel 
Giraud Elliot, of the Field Columbian Museum, 
Chicago; and to Mr. Andrew J. Stone, the 
explorer. 

Madison Grant, 



390 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

It was my pleasant task, during the past sum- 
mer, to visit a portion of the Forest Reserves of 
the United States for the purpose of studying 
tracts which might be set aside as Game Refuges. 
To this end I was commissioned by the Division 
of Biological Survey of the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture as "Game Preserve Expert," 
a new title and a new function. 

The general idea of the proposed plan for the 
creation of Game Refuges is that the President 
shall be empowered to designate certain tracts, 
wherein there may be no hunting at all, to be set 
aside as refuges and breeding grounds, and the 
Biological Survey is accumulating information to 
be of service in selecting such areas, when 
the time for creating them shall arrive. The 
Forest Reserves of the United States are 
under the care of the Department of the 
Interior, and not under the Agricultural De- 
partment, where one would naturally expect 

391 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

them to be. Their transfer to the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture has been agitated more than 
once, and is still a result much to be desired. 
Although acting in this mission as a representative 
of the Biological Survey under the latter Depart- 
ment, I bore a circular letter from the Secretary 
of the Interior, requesting the aid of the superin- 
tendents and supervisors of the Forest Reserves. 
Through them I could always rely upon the 
services of a competent ranger, who acted as guide. 
Arriving in California in March, I was some^ 
what more than six months engaged in the work; 
in that time visiting seven reserves in California 
and one in the State of Washington, involving 
a cruise of 1,220 miles in the saddle and on foot, 
within the boundaries of the forest, besides 500 
miles by wagon and stage. Since the addi- 
tion of an extra member to the party is ever an 
added risk of impaired harmony, and since the 
practice of any art involving skill is always a 
pleasure, I employed no packer during the entire 
time of my absence, but did this work myself, 
assisted on the off-side by Mr. Thurston, who 
accompanied me, and who helped in every way 
within his power. May I take this opportunity to 
thank him for aid of many sorts, and on all occa- 
sions, and for unflagging interest in the problem 

3Q2 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

which we had before us. California has long 
since ceased to be a country where the use of the 
pack train Is a customary means of travel. It Is 
now an old and long settled region where the 
frontier lies neither to the east nor to the west, 
but has escaped to the vicinity of timber line, 
nearly two miles straight up In the air. Com- 
paratively few people outside of the Sierra Club, 
that admirable open-air organization of "the 
Coast," have occasion to visit It, and such trips 
as they make are of brief duration. 

Since It is not desirable to visit the high Sierras 
before the first of July, three full months were at 
my disposal for the study of the reserves of 
southern California, a section of great Interest, 
and of the utmost Importance to the State. In 
southern California one hears frequent mention 
of the Pass of Tehachapi ; It Is the line of demarca- 
tion between the great valley of central Cali- 
fornia, drained by the San Joaquin River on the 
north, and of southern California proper, which 
lies to the south. These two' regions are of very 
different nature. In the San Joaquin Valley lie the 
great wheat fields of California. South of the 
Pass of Tehachapi, people are dependent upon 
irrigation. Here, too, lie wheat fields and also 
rich vineyards, and the precious orchards of 

393 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

oranges and lemons; further south the equally 
valuable walnut and almond groves. 

The seven Forest Reserves of southern Cali- 
fornia may be regarded as one almost continuous 
tract embracing about 4,000,000 acres, lying on 
either side of the crest of the Coast Range; they 
are economically of enormous importance to Cali- 
fornia, but not on account of their timber. In 
many cases they are forest reserves without trees; 
for example, the little Trabuco Canon Reserve, 
which has but a handful of Coulter pines, and on 
the northern slope a few scattered spruce. The 
western slope of the foothills of the San Jacinto, 
San Bernardino, San Gabriel, Zaca Lake and 
Pine Mountain, and Santa Ynez reserves, are clad 
only in chaparral, yet the preservation of these 
hillsides from fire is of vital importance to the 
people, since the mantle of vegetation protects, 
to a certain degree, the sources of the streams 
from which the supply of water is derived. In 
this country they believe that water is life; thus 
harking back to the teaching of the Father of 
Philosophy, to Thales of Miletus, who lived six 
hundred years before Christ: "The principle of 
all things is water, all comes from water, and 
to water all returns." Such trees as there are here 
possess unusual interest; approaching the crest of 

394 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

the mountains one finds a scattered growth of pines 
— the Coulter, ponderosa, Jeffrey's, the glorious 
sugar pine, the Pinus contorta, and Pinus f.exiUs, 
the single leaf or nut pine, and, in scattered tracts, 
the queer little knob-cone pine. Red and white firs 
are found, the incense cedar, the Douglas spruce, 
the big cone spruce, and a number of deciduous 
trees, mainly oaks of several varieties, with syca- 
more along the lower creeks, and the alder tree, 
strikingly like the alder bush of our eastern streams 
and pastures, but of Gargantuan proportions, 
grown out of all recognition. Scattered repre- 
sentatives of other species are found — the maple, 
cherry, dogwood, two varieties of sumac, the 
yerba del pasmo (or bastard cedar), madrorios, 
walnut, mesquite, mountain mahogany, cotton- 
wood, willow, ash, many varieties of bushes, also 
the yucca, mescal, cactus, etc. I have given but a 
bald enumeration of these; the forming of an 
acquaintance with so many new trees, shrubs, and 
flowering herbs is of great interest, and increas- 
ingly so from day to day, as one comes to live with 
them in the different reserves. The pleasure to be 
derived is cumulative — each acquisition of knowl- 
edge adding to the satisfaction of that which 
comes after — it is of a sort, however, to be 
experienced in the presence of the thing itself; 

395 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

any description at a distance must necessarily be 
shadowy and unreal, only the dry bones of some^ 
thing which one sees there, a thing of beauty and 
instinct with life. 

The characteristic feature of these southern 
forests is their open nature; so far as the rough- 
ness of the mountains will permit, one may go 
anywhere In the saddle without being hindered by 
underbrush. Outside of their limits, however, and 
on many hillsides within the reserves, the chapar- 
ral offers an impenetrable barrier; in some of 
them this growth has captured the greater por- 
tion of their surface. The forests themselves are 
often very beautiful; growing, as they do, openly, 
there is constant sunlight during many months of 
the year, so that all the ground is warm and 
vibrant with energy. As a natural consequence, 
great Individuality is shown in the tree forms, as 
different as possible from the gloom and severe 
uniformity of the Oregon and Washington forests. 
The former are dry, light, and cheerful ; the latter, 
moist, dark, silent, and somewhat forbidding. 
The northern forests of the Coast have their at- 
tractive features, to be sure; they are fecund, 
solemn, and majestic, but the prevailing note is 
not cheerfulness, as here in the south. 

In a paper of the present proportions it is im- 
396 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

possible to give, except in outline, a report of the 
summer's work. I began at San Juan Capistrano, 
one of the old mission towns with a beautiful ruin, 
lying near the sea on the west of the Trabuco 
Canon Reserve. My first cruise was through a 
chaparral country on the slope overlooking the 
Pacific. I learned here of few deer and of relent- 
less warfare against such as remain. After that, 
from Elsinore, strange echo of that sea-girt castle 
in Shakespeare's Denmark, I cruised so as to have 
as well an understanding of the eastern slope of 
this, the smallest of the Coast reserves. From 
Trabuco Peak we could study the physical geogra- 
phy of the northern half of its area. I saw here 
what I did not again come across in California — 
a small flock of the band-tailed pigeon, a bird as 
large as the mountain quail, very handsome, in- 
deed, and one that now should be protected by law. 
These, as well as the mountain quail, swallow 
whole the acorns, which this season lay beneath 
the live oak trees in lavish abundance; long thin 
acorns, quite different from ours. In the San 
Jacinto Reserve I made a cruise through the south- 
ern half; much of this section is clothed In scrub 
oak, with scattered deer throughout. In the north- 
ern and more mountainous portions, on the con- 
trary, one finds himself in the open forest, the 

397 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

summer range of the deer. At the time of our 
visit these were at a lower altitude, in the chaparral 
and among the scrub oaks of the foothills. 

Going thence by rail north to Santa Barbara, I 
inspected the narrow strip of the Santa Ynez Re- 
serve, and the eastern and western sections of the 
Zaca Lake and Pine Mountain Reserve. These 
are under the control of different forest super- 
visors; they are both largely composed of chapar- 
ral country, with scattered "pineries" on the 
mountains. The hunting here is regulated, to a 
certain degree, by the problem of feed and water 
for the stock used by the hunters In gaining access 
to the ground. Many enter these tracts from the 
south, as well as from the region adjacent to Santa 
Barbara, and the deer have a somewhat harassed 
and chivied existence, although, owing to the Im- 
penetrable nature of the chaparral outside of the 
pineries, there is a natural limit to the power of 
the sportsman to accomplish their entire exter- 
mination. The present control of hunters by the 
forest rangers Is only tentative ; naturally we hope 
to have in an ever-increasing degree more scientific 
management both of the deer and of those who 
Illegally kill them. The sentiment of the com- 
munity Is enlightened, and would strengthen the 
hands of the Government in enforcing the law. 

398 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

At present a ranger can do little more than main- 
tain, so far as he can, his authority by threats — 
threats which he has not the power to enforce. 

In the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Re- 
serves one finds himself at last in a forest country, 
with mountains which command respect, a section 
full of superb feed for the deer, feed of many 
sorts, for the deer have an attractive and varied 
bill of fare. Whole hillsides are found of scrub 
oak, their chief stand-by, and of wild lilac or 
"deer brush," the latter familiar to all readers of 
Muir as the Cleanothus, in those long periods of 
Miltonlc sweep and dignity in which he summons 
the clans of the California herbs and shrubs; an 
enumeration as stately as the Homeric catalogue 
of the ships, and, to such as lack technical knowl- 
edge of botany. Imposing respect rather by sono- 
rous appeal to the ear than by visual suggestion to 
the memory. That herbs should be marshalled in 
so impressive an array fills one with admiration 
and with somewhat of awe for these representa- 
tives of the vegetable kingdom. As Muir pro- 
nounces their full-sounding titles, one feels that 
each is a noble In this distinguished company. No 
one unprotected by a botany should have the 
temerity to enter, amid these lists, alone. 

We visited this country in the season of 

399 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

flowers. Whole hillsides of chamisal ("chamiz'* 
or greasewood) bore their delicate, spirea-like, 
cream-colored blossoms — when seen at a dis- 
tance, like a hovering breath, as unsubstantial as 
dew, or as the well-named bloom on a plum or 
black Hamburg grape. The superb yucca flaunted 
its glorious white standards, borne proudly aloft 
like those of the Roman legions, each twelve or 
fifteen feet in height, supporting myriads of white 
bells. The Mexicans call this the "Quixote" — a 
noble and fitting tribute to the knight of La 
Mancha. The tender center of the plant, loved as 
food equally by man and beast, is protected by 
many bristling bayonets, an ever-vigilant guard. 
At an altitude of seven thousand or eight thousand 
feet, one passed through acres of buckthorn, 
honey-fragrant, this also a favorite of the deer, 
now visited by every bee and butterfly of the 
mountain side. It is to be noted that as one ascends 
the mountains the butterflies increase in numbers 
as well as the flowers which they so closely re- 
semble, save only the latter's stationary estate. 

One sees in its perfection of color the "Indian 
paint brush," with its red of purest dye, and ad- 
joining it solid fields of blue lupine — the colors 
of Harvard and Yale, side by side, challenging 
birds and all creatures of the air to a decision as 

400 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

to which of them bears itself the more bravely. 
Here is a chestnut tree ; but look not overhead for 
its sheltering branches. This is a country of sur- 
prises, and if the alder tree towers on high, the 
dwarf chestnut or chinkapin here delegates to the 
mountains the pains of struggling toward the 
heavens, and, contented with its lowly estate, 
freely offers to the various "small deer" of the 
forest its horde of sweet, three-cornered nuts. 

Under the pines one catches a distant gleam of 
the snow plant, an exquisite sharp note of color, of 
true Roman shade, such as Rossetti loved to intro- 
duce into his pictures, shrill like the vibrant wood 
of the flute. When a ray of the sun happens to 
strike this it gleams like a flaming fiery sword, 
symbol of that which marked the entrance to 
Paradise. One can circumvent this guard here, 
and when he is in these hills he is not far removed 
from a country well worth protecting by all pos- 
sible ingenuity, a paradise open to all such as love 
pure air and wholesome strong exercise. 

Much of the San Gabriel Reserve is rugged and 
well protected by nature to be the home of the 
deer. San Bernardino, on the contrary, is the 
most accessible of the southern reserves, with 
abundant feed for the horses of those who visit it, 
well watered, and full of noble trees. So open is 

401 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

the forest that in the hunting season much of it 
must be abandoned by the deer, who are perfectly 
cognizant of their danger, and, with somewhat of 
aid from man, are quite capable of taking care of 
themselves. 

After visiting these southern reserves, I out- 
fitted at Redstone Park, above Visalia, in the San 
Joaquin Valley, and cruised through the Sequoia 
National Park, among the big trees, at that time 
patrolled by colored soldiers under the able com- 
mand of Captain Young, an officer who possesses 
the distinction of being the only negro graduate 
of West Point, I believe, now holding a commis- 
sion in the United States Army. The impression 
produced by the giant Sequoias is one of increas- 
ing effect as the time among them is extended. In 
their province the world has nothing to offer more 
majestic and more satisfying than these trees; one 
must live among them to come fully beneath their 
charm. 

Since the National Parks and military reser- 
vations are already game refuges, it was of 
importance that I should see the Mt. Whitney 
Military Reservation, and for this purpose I 
crossed the Sierra Reserve, through broad tracts 
suitable for Game Refuges, thus acquiring 
familiarity with a large and most interesting sec- 

402 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

tlon of forest country. From the top of Mt. 
Whitney, the highest bit of land in the United 
States, exclusive of Alaska, one looks down two 
miles in altitude to Owen's Lake almost directly 
beneath. I picked up, on the plateau of the sum- 
mit, a bit of obsidian Indian chipping, refutation 
in itself of the frequently repeated statement that 
Indians do not climb high peaks. A month was 
spent with great profit in and about the Sierra 
Reserve, and one might go there many summers, 
ever learning something new. 

Having seen these southern reserves, and desir- 
ing to bring home with me an impression of the 
northern woods, sharpened by immediate contrast, 
I next visited that one which is the most to the 
northwest of them all, the Olympic Reserve in 
Washington. Here, at the head of the Elwha 
Valley, near Mt. Olympus, we lived among the 
glaciers. The forest between the headwaters and 
the sea affords a superb contrast to California; 
here are found fog and moisture, and super- 
abounding heavy vegetation. In the thick shade 
grow giant ferns of tropic luxuriance. The 
rhododendron thrives, its black glossy leaves a 
symbol of richly nourished power. The devil's 
club flaunts aloft its bright berries, and poison- 
ously wounds whomsoever has the misfortune 

403 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

even to touch its great prickly leaves, nearly as 
big as an elephant's ear; if there be a malignant 
old rogue of the vegetable kingdom, this is he, 
sharing with the wait-a-bit thorn of Africa an evil 
eminence. Many new plants meet the eye, a 
wealth of berries — the Oregon grape, the salmon 
berry, red or yellow, as big as the yolk of an egg, 
the salal berry, any quantity of blueberries, huckle- 
berries, both red and blue, sarvis berries, bear ber- 
ries, mountain ash berries (also' loved of bears), 
thimble berries, high bush cranberries, goose- 
berries — large and insipid — currants, wild cherries, 
choke cherries; many of these friends of old, 
others seen here for the first time, dainty picking 
in the autumn for deer, bears, foxes, squirrels and 
many birds. What particularly appealed to 
me was a wild apple, no larger than the eye of 
a hawk, but quite able to survive in a fierce con- 
test for life, and with a pleasant, clean, sharp 
taste, very tonic to the palate, and with diminutive 
rosy cheeks as tempting as a stout Baldwin — 
a fine, courageous little product of the wild life, 
symbol of the energetic quality of the Olympic 
air. I, for one, am a firm believer in the axiom 
that a climate which will give the right "tang" to 
an apple will also produce determined and ener- 
getic men; this whole region, spite of Its fogs, 

404 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

has a glorious future before it. Superb firs 
towered hundreds of feet above our heads, and 
archaic-looking cedars, a thousand years old, thrust 
their sturdy shoulders firmly against the storms 
and the winds. But the valleys, the trees 
and the glaciers, were only the mise-en-scene 
of that which constituted primarily the rea- 
son of my visiting this peninsula. Here is 
the only wild herd of elk of any consider- 
able size outside of the Yellowstone National 
Park, a most beautiful elk now separated from 
the Rocky Mountain species. Besides this herd 
there are only a few survivors of the once innumer- 
able herds of the Pacific Coast, one little bunch in 
California, and a few scattered individuals In the 
mountains of Oregon and Washington. It Is ex- 
cessively hard to form any correct estimate of how 
many remain; probably there are at least a thou- 
sand, possibly several times that number. At all 
events, there Is a scattered herd large enough to 
insure the existence of the species If they might 
now be protected. Unfortunately the sentiment 
of the community in the vicinity of the Olympics 
is just about what It was in Colorado in 
the seventies and In the early eighties — almost 
complete apathy, so far as taking effective precau- 
tion is concerned, to prevent the killing of these 

405 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

animals In violation of the law. I saw one superb 
herd south of the headwaters of the Elwha, and 
was informed that In the winter a large number 
come lower down into the valley of that river; 
here and elsewhere the finest specimens are 
slaughtered by head-hunters for the market, and 
by anyone, in fact, who may covet their hides or 
meat or their "tusks," now unfortunately very 
valuable. 

Presumably, in so killing them, picked specimens 
are selected. Of course the finest bulls may not 
thus be systematically eliminated without causing 
the general deterioration of the herd. Nature's 
method of progress is by the survival of the fittest. 
Man reverses this so soon as cupidity makes him 
the foe of wild animals. The country here Is an 
excessively hard one to get about in with stock, 
owing to its very rugged nature and to the scarcity 
of feed, so that there Is slight danger of the exter- 
mination of these elk by sportsmen during the 
open season. In the winter, however, the hunters ] 
have them at their mercy. I was assured by one 
very level-headed man that, in the winter of 
1902-3, two men killed seventeen elk from the 
Elwha herd. Since the Individuals who killed the 
elk are well known and are practically unmolested, 
the immunity which they enjoy tempts others to 

406 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

similar violation of the law. More recently still, 
during this last winter, the game warden of Wash- 
ington reports the finding of the carcasses of nine- 
teen elk, killed for their tusks. 

This country, with its splendid glaciers and 
mountains covered with snow, presents quite 
the most beautiful scenery to be found within the 
limits of the United States, exclusive of Alaska, 
and, before many years, is destined to become a 
place of general resort for travelers. For this 
to be accomplished, all that is needed is greater 
facility of travel. It would be a thousand pities 
if we should tolerate the extermination of the elk, 
which would afford delight to every one who 
visited the Olympics, if only the herd might be 
preserved. One can hardly blame the hunters for 
taking advantage of the laxity of public sentiment. 
The State has it within its power easily to protect 
these animals by the employment of two or three 
game detectives of the right sort — keen, energetic 
men. These would soon break up the illicit traffic 
and bring the offenders to justice. The people of 
the whole Pacific seaboard, who are justly proud 
of their region, and of every trait peculiarly its 
own, would bitterly lament the final disappearance 
of elk from this whole countryside, yet the fact 
remains that hardly a voice there, outside of the 

407 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

organization of the "Elks," is raised to protest 
against these flagrant acts of vandalism which are 
taking place beneath their very eyes. 

This visit to the northern forest was full of 
varied and commanding interest, but the chief 
occupation of my summer, when all is said, was 
with California. 

Deer are practically the only game to be con- 
sidered in these southern California reserves. 
There are mountain sheep to the east, In the moun- 
tains of the Mojave and Colorado deserts, but 
they are almost unmolested by the hunters of the 
seaboard country, and, except in rare instances, 
are no longer found in the reserves. Occasionally 
odd ones are seen, venturesome, determined indi- 
viduals, on their travels. In the energy of youthful 
maturity, tempted by curiosity, but these soon 
realize that they are not secure where so many 
humans abound, and scurry back to their desert 
fastnesses. As refuges are created and breeding 
grounds established, sheep will return, and. It is 
hoped, make their permanent home in the reserves. 
There are still enough of them In scattered places 
for this purpose. I was told of one method of 
hunting In the desert hills, sometimes resorted to 
by Indians and white men of the baser sort, that 
^eems hateful and unsportsmanlike. The springs 

408 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

at which they drink are long distances apart. In 
some Instances the alleged sportsmen camp by 
these and watch them without Intermission for 
three days and nights, at the end of which period, 
when the sheep are exhausted by thirst, the hunter 
has them at his mercy. This has nearly as much 
to commend It to the self-respecting sportsman as 
the practice of imitating the cry of the female 
moose to lure the bull to mad recklessness and his 
undoing, a challenge hard for a courageous animal 
to resist, a treacherous snare set before his feet. 
It would seem as If a right-minded man would 
hesitate to take so base an advantage as by either 
of these two methods of hunting. 

Antelope are nearly exterminated in southern 
California, and there Is but a single little bunch of 
elk — those In the San Joaquin Valley, sole sur- 
vivors of the vast herds which ranged throughout 
those lowlands when Fremont came to the coun- 
try In 1845. These elk are smaller than those of 
the mountains, and bear a striking resemblance to 
the Scotch red deer, so familiar to us in Landseer's 
pictures. For years they have been protected by the 
generosity and wisdom of one man, now no longer 
young, an altogether public-spirited and generous 
act. I was taken by the manager of this ranch to 
see these elk as they came at night to feed in the 

409 



American Big Game In Its Haunts 

alfalfa fields, and again In the morning we fol- 
lowed their trail Into the foothills and had a capi- 
tal view of seven superb bulls In their wild estate, 
as pretty a sight as one might see In California. 
Who can feel ought save commiseration for a 
man who, standing on London bridge, could say, 
"Earth has not anything to show more fair" ? 

Twice during the summer was I told of the 
presence In the mountains, by men who thought 
they had seen them, of the mythical Ibex. My In- 
formant, In each Instance a ranger, assured me 
that he had had a good look at the animal, and 
was sure that It was not a mountain ram. The 
back-curving horns he said were "as long as his 
forearm," one added Instance of the fact that a 
fish In the brook Is worth two on the string — If a 
good story be at stake ! What my Informant had 
seen, of course, was a ewe, or young mountain ram 
before he had arrived at the age when the horns 
begin to form their characteristic spiral. As for 
the great size of the horns, the animal was run- 
ning away, and every hunter Is aware of the enor- 
mous proportions which the antlers attain of an 
escaping elk or deer. How they suddenly shrink 
when the beast Is shot Is another story. 

Incidentally, the refuges of southern California 
will include the breeding places of the trout in the 

410 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

upper reaches of the streams, and will afford pro- 
tection to grouse, quail, and other birds, but pri- 
marily their purpose is to prevent the exter- 
mination of big game. In California this has 
gone as far as it is safe to go if we are to save 
the remnant. Even the California grizzly has 
been killed off so relentlessly that it was a ques- 
tion, when I was there, whether a single pair 
survived which might possibly in that State pre- 
serve the species. The ranger who knew the 
most about this was of the opinion that two or 
three were still left alive. He had seen their tracks 
within a year.* There are, I have been assured, 
others in Oregon. 

If I had my way, the first act in creating a game 
refuge should be to Insure the survival of the few 
that remain. These bears are pitifully wary as 
compared with their former bold and domineering 
attitude; they would gladly keep out of harm's 
way If only they might be allowed to do so. It 
is time, it seems to me, to call a truce to man's 
hostility to them, once a foe not to be despised. 
Now they are so completely conquered that man 
owes it to himself not too relentlessly to pursue a 

*I have been informed since the above was written that 
he saw the tracks of a single grizzly after I was there, to- 
ward the end of July. 

411 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

vanquished enemy. When we think of the enor- 
mous period of time, involving millions of years, 
required to develop a creature of such gigantic 
strength as the California grizzly, so splendidly 
equipped to win his living and to maintain his 
unquestioned supremacy — the Sequoia of the ani- 
mal kingdom of America — and when we contem- 
plate this creature as the very embodiment of 
vitality in the wild life, we shall not wantonly 
permit him to be exterminated, and thus deprive 
those who are to come after us of seeing him alive, 
and of seeing him where his presence adds a fine 
note of distinction to the landscape, a fitting ad- 
junct to the glacier-formed ravines of the Sierras. 
The domestic sheep, which were once the prey 
of the bears, no longer range in these 
forests, and so far as the depredation of bears 
among cattle is concerned, it is of so trifling 
a nature as practically not to exist. It would seem 
that a nation of so vast wealth as ours could 
afford to indulge in an occasional extravagance, 
such as keeping alive these few remaining bears; 
of maintaining them at the public expense simply 
for the gratification of curiosity, of a quite legit- 
imate curiosity on the part of those who love the 
wild life, and every last vanishing trait that re- 
mains of Its old, keen energy. So far as danger to 

412 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

man is involved by their presence, the experience 
in the Yellowstone National Park is that there is 
no such danger ; when allowed to do so, they draw 
their rations as meekly as a converted Apache; if 
they err at all, it is on the side of exaggerated and 
rather pitiful humility. 

It is mainly with the deer, however, that we are 
concerned. It is out of the question for any think- 
ing man who takes the slightest interest in these 
creatures to stand passively by and permit them to 
be exterminated. To prevent such a catastrophe 
proper measures must be taken. The hunting 
community increases with as great rapidity as that 
with which game decreases. Where one man 
hunted twenty-five years ago, a score hunt for big 
game to-day. Unfortunately it has become the 
fashion. It is a diversion involving no danger 
and, for those that understand it, but slight hard- 
ship. If people are to continue to have this 
source of amusement, some well matured and con- 
certed plan must be devised to insure the con- 
tinuance of game. Never in the past history of 
the world has man held at his command the same 
potential control of wild beasts as now, the same 
power to concentrate against them the forces of 
science. Man's supremacy has advanced by leaps 
and bounds, while the animal's power to escape re- 

413 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

mains unchanged; all the conditions for their sur- 
vival constantly become more difficult. Man has, 
in its perfection, the rapid-firing rifle, which, with 
the use of smokeless powder, gives him an enor- 
mous increase of effectiveness in its flat trajectory. 
This is quite as great an element of its destructive- 
ness as its more deadly power and capacity for 
quick shooting, since it eliminates the necessity for 
accurately gauging distance, one of the hardest 
things for the amateur hunter to learn. If man 
so desires, he can command the aid of dogs. By 
their power of scent he has wild animals at his 
mercy, and unless he deliberately regulates the 
slaughter which he will permit, their entire exter- 
mination would be a matter of only a few years. 
Only at the end of the last year we were told of 
the celebration in the Tyrol of the killing, by 
the Emperor of Austria, of his two thousandth 
chamois. Eight years ago this same record was 
achieved by another Austrian, a Grand Duke. This 
was in both instances, as I understand, by the means 
of fair and square stalking, quite different from 
the methods of the more degenerate battue. At a 
single shooting exhibition of this latter sort by the 
Crown Prince of Germany at his estate in Schles- 
wig, on one day in December last, were killed two 
hundred and ten fallow deer, three hundred and 

414 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

forty-one red deer, and on the day following, 
eighty-seven large wild boar, one hundred and 
twenty-six small ones, eighty-six fallow deer, and 
two hundred and one red deer. Any man, private 
citizen as well as emperor or prince, has It within 
his power, if he be possessed of the blood craze, 
to kill scores and hundreds of every kind of game. 
By the facilities of rapid travel the hunter, with 
the least possible sacrifice of time, Is transported 
with whatever of luxury a Pullman car can confer 
(luxury to him who likes It) to the haunts and 
almost within the very sanctuaries of game. 
Where formerly an expedition of months was re- 
quired, now in a few days' time he is carried to the 
most out-of-the-way places, to the barrens, the 
forests, the peaks, the mountain glades — almost 
to the muskeg and the tundra. 

How far the rage for hunting has captured 
the community in this country of the western 
seaboard it Is surprising to learn. In the year 
1902 there were issued for the seven forest 
reserves south of the Pass of Tehachapi, a 
tract three-quarters the size of Massachusetts, 
four thousand permits to hunt. Inasmuch as 
one permit may admit more than a single 
person to the privileges of hunting, It was esti- 
mated that at least five thousand people bearing 

41S 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

rifles entered the reserves. This besides the enor- 
mous horde of the peaceably disposed who also 
seek diversion here, and who naturally disturb the 
deer to a certain extent. The supervisor of two 
reserves — the San Gabriel and San Bernardino — 
embracing a tract less than half the size of Con- 
necticut, assured me that in 1902 sixty thousand 
persons entered within their borders; in the sum- 
mer of 1903 this number was estimated at no less 
than ten thousand in excess of the previous year. 
In these two reserves the number of permits for 
rifles and revolvers issued between June i and De- 
cember 31, increased from 1,900 in the year 1902, 
to 3^483 if^ 19035 and as, in some cases, these were 
issued for two or more persons, the supervisor 
estimates that at least 4,500 rifles were carried last 
summer into these two reserves. He was of the 
opinion that two-thirds of these were borne by 
hunters, the remainder as protection against bears 
and other ferocious wild beasts, which exist only 
in imagination.* 

*"Relative to the figures for game permits, and the reason 
for the larger number issued for 1903 over 1902, I cannot 
myself altogether explain the large increase. One reason, 
however, was that our rainfall for the winter of 1902-3 
was very large compared with that of the five previous 
winters. As a result grass and feed were plentiful, and at- 
tracted many more travelers and hunters, who figured that 
game would be much more plentiful owing to the abundance 

416 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

It is to be borne in mind that all through this 
California country there exists a race of hunters — 
active, determined men, who passionately love this 
diversion. The people there have not been so long 
graduated as we of the Atlantic Coast from the 
conditions of the frontier. The ozone of a new 
country stirs more quickly the predatory instinct, 
never quite dead in any virile race. The rifle slips 
easily from its scabbard, and there in plain sight 
before them are the forest-clad mountains, a mile 
above their heads, in the cool and vital air, ever 
beckoning the hunter to be up and away. These 
people feel in their blood the call of the wild. 
With a very considerable proportion of the people 
upon farms, and still more in villages and small 
towns, the Fall hunt is the commanding interest 

of feed. I believe that this was the principal reason why 
so many obtained permits. The abundant rain made camp- 
ing more pleasant, as it started up springs which had been 
dry for several years. I believe that this very thing, how- 
ever, also tended to protect the game as it permitted them 
to scatter more than for several years before, as water was 
more abundant. With all the increase in guns and hunters 
I do not think that any more deer were killed than during 
the summer of 1902." (Letter from Forest Supervisor, Mr. 
Everett B. Thomas, Los Angeles, Feb. 13, 1904.) It is to 
be noted that in the southern California reserves, on the 
ground of precaution against forest fires, no shotguns may 
be carried into the reserves. As a result quail have greatly 
increased in numbers. 

417 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

of the year. This is the one athletic contest into 
which they enter heart and soul ; it Is foot-ball and 
yachting and polo and horse racing combined. 
For a young man to go Into the forest after deer 
and to come back empty-handed, is to lose prestige 
to a certain extent among his fellows. Oftentimes, 
when a beginner returns In this way unsuccessful, 
he is so unmercifully chaffed by his companions 
that he mentally records a vow not to be beaten a 
second time, and, when he finds himself again in 
the forest for his annual hunt, with the enthusiasm 
of youth, he would almost rather die than be 
defeated. 

How hard the conditions are for the hunter no 
one would believe who has not himself seen the 
country. In many places the hills are covered 
with an almost impenetrable chaparral of scrub 
oak, buckthorn, greasewood, manzanita, and deer- 
brush. In which the wary deer have taken refuge. 
In and through these, guided sometimes by the 
tracks of the deer, or encouraged by the presence 
of such tracks even If he cannot follow them, up 
steep mountains, exposed to the heat of the sun, in 
dust, over rocks, and without water, toils the 
hunter, who accounts himself lucky If, by tramp- 
ing scores of miles through this sort of impedi- 
ment, he succeeds, after days of toil. In killing his 

418 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

deer. Perhaps he has been without fresh meat for 
a week or a fortnight, and often on short com- 
mons; is it to be wondered at that when a shot 
offers he avails himself of the opportunity even 
if it be a doe that he fires at? How can the deer 
withstand such concentration of fury? 

Dr. Bartlett, Forest Supervisor of the Trabuco 
and San Jacinto Reserves, assured me that the 
number of licenses to hunt in those two reserves 
issued annually exceeded, in his opinion, the entire 
number of deer within their boundaries.. 

Everyone now Is ready to admit that the exter- 
mination of the herd of buffalo in the seventies 
was permitted by a crude, short-sighted policy on 
our part as a nation, and should we of the early 
twentieth century allow the remaining deer, elk, 
mountain sheep, and antelope, the last of the great 
bears, and the Innumerable small creatures of the 
wild, to be crowded off the face of the earth, we 
should be depriving our children and our chil- 
dren's children of a satisfaction and of a 
source of interest which they would keenly regret. 
It would be well If we bore in mind that we stand 
In a sort of fiduciary relation to the people who are 
to come after us, so far as the wild portion of our 
land Is concerned, those few remote tracts still un- 
tarnished by man's craze to convert everything in 

419 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

the world, or beneath the surface of the earth, Into 
dollars for his own immediate profit. He has the 
same short-sighted policy in his hunting. He is 
content to gratify the impulse of the hour without 
thought of those who are to spend their lives here 
when we have led our brief careers and have gone 
to a well merited oblivion, to reap our reward — 

Heads without names, no more remembered. 

Let us look this matter squarely in the face. 
We are the inheritors of these domains. It is one 
of the most precious assets of posterity. Here, 
year by year, in steadily increasing proportion, as 
wisdom more prevails, will men take comfort; and 
as the comprehension of nature's charms penetrates 
their minds will they find content. One chief 
satisfaction that every American feels from the 
mere fact of his nationality is the full assurance in 
his heart that any measure founded on sound 
reason and prompted by generous impulse will 
receive, if not immediate acceptance, at all events 
eventual recognition. In the end justice will pre- 
vail. Thus, in this matter before us, it will 
naturally take a few years for Congress to realize 
that a genuine demand exists for the creation of 
these refuges in every State, East as well as West, 
but the interest in wild creatures, and the desire 

420 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

for their protection, if not a clamorous demand, is 
one almost universally felt. All men, except a 
meager few of the dwarfed and strictly city-bred, 
partake of this, and it is so much a sign of the 
times that no Sunday edition is complete without 
its column devoted to wild creatures, their traits, 
their habits, or their eccentricities. One could 
hardly name, outside of money-making and poli- 
tics, an interest which all men more generally 
share. 

Every lad Is a bom naturalist, and the true wis- 
dom, as all sensible people know. Is to carry 
unfatigued through life the boy's power of enjoy- 
ment, his freshness of perception, his alertness and 
zest. Where the child's capacity for close obser- 
vation survives into manhood, supplemented by 
man's power of sustained attention, we have the 
typical temperament of the lover of the woods, 
the mountains, and the wild — of the naturalist in 
the sense that Thoreau was a naturalist, and many 
another whose memory is cherished. 

It is not impossible for a man to be deeply 

learned and still to lack the power of awakening 

enthusiasm in others; as a matter of fact, to be so 

heavily freighted with information that he forgets 

to nourish his own finer faculties, his intuition, his 

sympathy, and his insight. One must have lived 

421 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

for a time in the California mountains to realize 
how great is the service to the men of his own and 
to succeeding generations of him who more than 
any one else has illuminated the study of the Sier- 
ras and of all our forest-clad mountains, our 
glacier-formed hills, valleys and glades. Not by 
any means do all lovers of nature, however faithful 
their purpose, come to its study with the endow- 
ment of John Muir. In him we see the trained 
faculties of the close and accurate observer, joined 
to the temperament of the poet — the capacity to 
think, to see and to feel — and by the power of sus- 
tained and strong emotion to make us the sharers 
of his joy. The beauty and the majesty of the 
forest to him confer the same exaltation of mind, 
the same intellectual transport, which the trained 
musician feels when listening to the celestial har- 
monies of a great orchestra. In proportion as 
one conceives, or can imagine, the fineness of the 
musical endowment of a Bach or Beethoven, and 
in proportion as he can realize in his own 
mind the infinity of training and preparation which 
has contributed to the development of such a 
master musician — in such proportion may he 
comprehend and appreciate the unusual qualities 
and achievements of a man like Muir. He will 
realize to some degree — indistinctly to be sure, 

422 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

"seeing men as trees walking" — the infinity of 
nice and accurate observation, the discriminating 
choice of illustration, the infallible tact and un- 
varying sureness with which he holds our Interest, 
and the dominant poetic insight into the nature of 
things, which are spread before the reader in lav- 
ish abundance, in Muir's two books, "The Moun- 
tains of California" and "Our National Parks." 
No other books, in this province, by living author 
offer to the reader so rich a feast. Recognizing 
the fine endowments of Thoreau, and how greatly 
all are his debtors, still we of this generation are 
lucky in having one greater than he among us, 
if wisdom of life and joyousness be the criterion 
of a sound and of a sane philosophy. The time 
will come when this will be generally recognized. 
The verdict of posterity is the right one, and the 
love of mankind Is given throughout the centuries 
to the men of insight, who possess the rare mental 
endowment of sustained pleasure. Call It per- 
petual youth, or joyousness, or what you like, the 
fact remains that the power of sustained enthu- 
siasm, lightness of heart and gaiety, with the 
faculty of communicating to others that state of 
mind, Is not one of the commonest endowments 
of the human brain. It is one that confers great 
happiness to others, and one to whose possessor we 

422 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

are under great obligation. Compare the career of 
Thoreau, lonely, sad, and wedded to death — on 
the one hand, with that of Muir, on the other — 
a lover of his kind, healthful, inspiring to gaiety, 
superabounding in vitality. Naturalists of this 
type of mind, and so faithful in perfecting the 
talents entrusted to them, do not often appear in 
any age. 

In the designations of refuges for deer, various 
questions are to be considered, such as abundance 
of food, proximity to water, suitable shelter, an 
exposure to their liking, for they may be permitted 
to have whims in a matter of this sort, just as fully 
as Indians or the residents of the city, when 
they deign to honor the country by their 
presence. The deer feel that they are en- 
titled to a certain remote absence from moles- 
tation; moderate hunting will not entirely 
discourage them — a dash of excitement might 
prove rather entertaining to a young buck with a 
little recklessness in his temperament — ^but unless 
a deer be clad in bullet-proof boiler iron, there 
are ranges in the reserves of southern California 
where he would never dare to show his face during 
the open season — regular rifle ranges. Where 
very severely hunted, like the road agent, they 
"take to the brush," that is, hide in the chaparral. 

424 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

This IS almost impenetrable. It is very largely 
composed of scrub oak, buckthorn, chamisal or 
greasewood, with a scattered growth of wild lilac, 
wild cherry, etc. So far as the deer make this their 
permanent home, there is no fear of their exter- 
mination. They may be hunted effectively only 
with the most extreme caution. Not one person in 
a thousand ever attains to the level of a still-hunter 
whose accomplishment guarantees him success 
under such conditions. There are men of this sort, 
but these are artists In their pursuit, whose attain- 
ments, like those of the professional generally, arc 
beyond comparison with those of the ordinary 
amateur. To hunt successfully in the chaparral, re- 
quires a special genius. One must have exhaustless 
patience, tact trained by a lifetime of this sort of 
work, perseverance incapable of discouragement, 
the silence of an Indian, and in this phrase^ — when 
we are dealing with the skill of one who can make 
progress without sound through the tangles of the 
dry and stiff California chaparral — is involved an 
exercise of skill comparable only to the fineness of 
touch of a Joachim or a St. Gaudens. This sort 
of hunter marks one end of the scale of perfection; 
near the other and more familiar extreme is found 
the individual of whom this story is told. He was 
an Englishman and had just returned from a trip 

42s 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

into the jungle of India after big game, where he 
was accompanied by a guide, most expert in his 
profession. One of the sportsman's friends asked 
this man how his employer shot while on the trip. 
His reply was a model of tact and concise state- 
ment: "He shot divinely, but God was very mer- 
ciful to the animals." 

He who reads this brief account may naturally 
ask: What were the practical results of your 
Western trip? Have you any ideas which may be 
of value in the solution of this problem of Game 
Refuges? My primary conception of the duties 
of a Game Expert, sent out by a Bureau of a 
United States Department, was to approach this 
entire subject without preconceived theories, with 
an open and unbiased mind; to see as many of the 
various reserves as possible, under the guidance 
of the best men to be had, and, increasing in this 
manner my knowledge by every available means, 
to reserve the period of general consideration and 
of specific recommendation until the whole prelim- 
inary reconnoissance should be accomplished. The 
thing of prime importance is that the game expert 
should see the reserves, and see them thoroughly. 
In a measure of such scope what we desire is a well 
thought-out plan, based on knowledge of the 
actual conditions, knowledge acquired in the field 

426 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

for the future use of him who has acquired it. No 
report can transfer to the mind of another an im- 
pression thus derived. 

I had been but a short time engaged in this 
campaign of education before it seemed wise to 
abandon the limitations imposed by traveling in 
wagons; these held one to the valleys and to the 
dusty ways of men. After that emancipation I 
lived In the haunts of the deer, traveling with a 
pack train, and cruising in about the same altitude 
affected by that most thoroughbred of all the coni- 
fers, the sugar pine. Trust the genius of that tree, 
the pine, of all those that grow on any of the 
mountains of North America, of finest power, 
beauty, Individuality, and distinction, to select the 
most attractive altitude for Its home, the daintiest 
air, the air fullest of strong vitality and deter- 
mination, whether man or deer Is to participate in 
the virtues of the favored zone. Many a time I 
went far beyond the region of the sugar pine, and 
not infrequently cruised beneath its lower limits. 

What that tree loves is a zone of about four 

thousand feet In width extending from three to 

seven thousand feet above the level of the sea. 

The upper reaches of this belt are where the deer 

range during the open season of the summer when 

they must be afforded protection. These were 

427 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

traversed with care, and seen with as much thor- 
oughness as possible. More of the reserves might 
easily have been visited in other States, had I been 
content to do this in a sketchy and cursory man- 
ner, but my idea was to derive the greatest pos- 
sible amount of instruction for a definite specific 
purpose, and it seemed to me for the accomplish- 
ment of this end to be essential that one should 
spend a sufficiently long time in each forest to re- 
ceive a strong impression of its own peculiar and 
distinctive nature, to get an idea into one's head, 
which would stick, of its Individuality, and, if I 
may say so, of its personal features and idiosyn- 
crasies. Not until more than three months had 
been spent in the faithful execution of this plan 
was the problem studied from any other view than 
that refuges were to be created of considerable 
size, and that their lines of demarcation would 
naturally be formed by something easily grasped 
by the eye, either rivers or the crests of mountain 
ranges. 

After the lapse of that time, looking at 
this from every point of view, it became my 
opinion that the ideal solution was the creation of 
many small refuges rather than the establishment 
of a few large ones. To be effective, the size of 
these ranges should not be less than ten miles 

428 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

square; if slightly larger, so much the better. 
Should, therefore, these be of about four town- 
ships each, the best results would be obtained. 
The bill for the creation of Game Refuges after it 
had passed the Senate, and as amended by the 
Committee on Public Lands of the House of 
Representatives, in the spring of 1903, read: 

"The President of the United States Is hereby 
authorized to designate such areas in the public 
Forest Reserves, not exceeding one in each State 
or Territory, as should, in his opinion, be set 
aside for the protection of game animals, birds, 
and fish, and be recognized as a breeding place 
therefor." 

If this bill were to become law in its present 
form, the object for which it was created would be 
largely defeated. One may easily overlook the 
fact that an area corresponding to that of Cali- 
fornia would, on the Atlantic Coast, extend from 
Newport, R. I., to Charleston, S. C. It embraces 
communities and interests in many respects as 
widely separated as those of New England and 
the Atlantic Southern States. Were one Game 
Refuge only to be created in the State of Cali- 
fornia, unless it included practically the whole of 
the reserves south of Tehachapi, protection would 

not be afforded to the different species of large 

429 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

game found there, namely, deer, mountain sheep, 
and antelope, leaving out of consideration elk, in 
regard to which in California, of course, peculiar 
conditions prevail. It will be wise for us to look 
at this question from the standpoint of the settlers 
who live adjacent to the reserves. They have in- 
terests at stake, and very strongly feel assured of 
their right to kill game. If they were to be de- 
prived of this right, it would result in deep dis- 
satisfaction. The local press would give expres- 
sion to this sentiment and our cause would thereby 
suffer. Moreover, the bill, as framed, would not 
afford relief to the present congested state of 
affairs. If but a single refuge were to be created, 
it might well be the desire of those whose office it 
became to mark its bounds, in conformity with the 
conditions of the bill, to designate as large a tract 
as possible. Suppose, for instance, that they were 
to set aside the whole Sierra Reserve, which alone 
is greater in extent than the seven reserves of 
southern California, selecting this as centrally 
situated in the State, southern California would 
derive but slight benefit from the measure. Good 
hunting in the vicinity of the reserve so protected 
might tempt a certain number of hunters to pre- 
fer that region to the more severely hunted forests 
of their own section; but there is in that country 

430 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

a constantly increasing population, and an ever- 
increasing interest in big-game hunting. The 
designation of one Game Refuge In the Sierra 
Reserve would practically not reduce the slaughter 
of deer in this whole vast region of southern Cali- 
fornia. Were the single Game Refuge, which 
might under the law be designated, to be placed 
in southern California, even although it embraced 
the entire area of the seven southern reserves, it 
would not aid to any great extent in preventing 
the extinction of game in the region of the Sierra 
Reserve, of the Stanislaus Reserve, or of the great 
reserves which are doubtless soon to be created in 
the northern half of the State. A bill so conceived 
would not fulfill the purpose of Its creation. 

There are just as cogent reasons of a positive 
nature why many small refuges are preferable to 
a few large ones. It is said that in the vicinity of 
George Vanderbilt's game preserves at Biltmore, 
North Carolina, deer, when started by dogs even 
fifteen or twenty miles away, will seek shelter 
within the limits of that protected forest, know- 
ing perfectly well that once within its bounds they 
will not be disturbed. The same may be observed 
in the vicinity of the Yellowstone National Park; 
the bears, for instance, a canny folk, and shrewd 
to read the signs of the times, seem to be well 

431 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

aware that they are not to be disturbed near the 
hotels, and they show themselves at such places 
without fear; at the same time that outside the 
Park (and when the early snow is on the ground 
their tracks are often observed going both out and 
in) these same beasts are very shy indeed. The 
hunter soon discovers that it is with the greatest 
difficulty that one ever sees them at all outside of 
the bounds of the Park. Bears, as well as deer, 
adapt themselves to the exigencies of the situation ; 
the grizzly, since the white man stole from him 
and the Indian the whole face of the earth, 
has become a night-ranging instead of a 
diurnal creature. The deer, we may safely rest 
assured, makes quite as close a study of humans 
as man does of the deer. It is a question of 
life and death with them that they should under- 
stand him and his methods. Both the deer and 
the hunters would profit by the widest possible 
distribution of these protected areas. Each sec- 
tion of the State is entitled to the benefit to be de- 
rived from their presence in its vicinity. More- 
over, and I believe that this is a consideration of 
no slight moment, the creation of many small 
refuges, not too close together, would obviate one 
great difficulty which threatens to wreck the en- 
tire scheme. There have appeared signs of oppo- 

432 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

sition in certain quarters to the creation in the 
various reserves of game refuges by Federal 
power on the ground that this would be to sur- 
render to the Government at Washington 
authority which should be solely exercised by the 
State. In a certain sense it is the old issue of 
State rights. Where this feeling exists it is ad- 
hered to with extraordinary tenacity, and it is as 
catching as the measles; just so soon as one State 
takes this stand, another is liable to raise the same 
issue. They are jealous of any power except their 
own which would close from hunting to their citi- 
zens considerable portions of the forest reserves 
within the confines of the State. Their claim is 
that by an abuse of such delegated power, a Presi- 
dent of the United States might, if so inclined, 
shut out the citizens from hunting at all in the 
forest reserves of their own State. This argument 
is not an easy one to wave aside. Should, how- 
ever, the size of the individual refuges be limited 
to four townships each, and the minimum distance 
between such refuges be defined, one grave objec- 
tion to these refuges would be overcome, and the 
citizens of the various States would cooperate 
with Federal authority tO' accomplish that which 
the sentiment at home in many instances is not at 
present sufficiently enlightened to demand, and 

433 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

which by reason of party differences the State 
legislatures are powerless to effect. 

Having elaborated in one's mind the idea that 
a Game Refuge, in order to be a success, should be 
about ten or twelve miles square, the question 
arises, how near are these to be placed to one 
another? If they are established at the begin- 
ning, not less than twenty or twenty-five miles 
from each other, it seems to me that the exi- 
gencies of the situation would be met. It is 
not our purpose, in creating them, seriously 
to interfere with the privileges of hunters ad- 
joining the forests where they are established. 
On the contrary, all that is wished is to pre- 
serve the present number of the deer, or to 
allow them slightly to increase. The system of 
game refuges of the size indicated, would, I be- 
lieve, accomplish this end. In all probability, at 
the beginning of the open season, the deer would 
be distributed with a considerable degree of uni- 
formity throughout the reserve, outside of the 
game refuges as well as within. They would go, 
of course, where the food and conditions suited 
them. As the hunting season opened, and the 
game, in a double sense, become more lively, the 
deer would naturally seek shelter where they could 
find it. Since this, with them, would be a question 

434 



Forest Reserves of North America 



In the United States something over 100,000 square 
miles of the pubHc domain has been set aside and 
reserved from settlement for economic purposes. 
This vast area includes reservations of four different 
kinds : First, National Forest Reserves, aggregating 
some 63,000,000 acres, for the conservation of the 
water supply of the arid and semi-arid West ; second, 
National Parks, of which there are seventeen, for the 
purpose of preserving untouched places of natural 
grandeur and interest; third, State Parks, for places 
of recreation and for conserving the water supply; 
and fourth, military wood and timber reservations, to 
provide Government fuel or other timber. Most mili- 
tary wood reserves were originally established in con- 
nection with old forts. 

The forest reservations, as they are by far the 
largest, are also much the most important of these 
reserved areas. 

Perhaps three-quarters of the population of the 
United States do not know that over nearly one-half 
of the national territory within the United States the 
rainfall is so slight or so unevenly distributed that 
agriculture cannot be carried on except by means of 
irrigation. This irrigation consists of taking water 
out of the streams and conducting it by means of 
ditches which have a very gentle slope over the land 
which it is proposed to irrigate. From the original 

455 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

ditch, smaller ditches are taken out, running nearly 
parallel with each other, and from these laterals other 
ditches, still smaller, and the seepage from all these 
moistens a considerable area on which crops may be 
grown. This, very roughly, is irrigation, a subject of 
incalculable interest to the dwellers in the dry West. 

It is obvious that irrigation cannot be practiced 
without water, and that every ditch which takes water 
from a stream lessens the volume of that stream below 
where the ditch is taken out. It is conceivable that 
so many ditches might be taken out of the stream, and 
so much of the water lost by evaporation and seepage 
into the soil irrigated, that a stream which, uninter- 
fered with, was bank full and even flowing throughout 
the summer, might, under such changed condition, 
become absolutely dry on the lower reaches of its 
course. And this, in fact, is what has happened with 
some streams in the West. Where this is the case, the 
farmers who live on the lower stretches of the stream, 
being without water to put on their land, can raise 
no crops. Nothing, therefore, is more important to 
the agriculturists of the West than to preserve full 
and as nearly equal as possible at all seasons the 
water supply in their streams. 

This water is supplied by the annual rain or snow 
fall ; but in the West chiefly by snow. It falls deep 
on the high mountains, and, protected there by the 
pine forests, accumulates all through the winter, and 
in spring slowly melts. The deep layer of half-rotted 
pine needles, branches, decayed wood and other vege- 
table matter which forms the forest floor, receives this 
melting snow and holds much of it for a time, while 

4S6 



Forest Reserves of North America 

the surplus runs off over the surface of the ground, 
and by a thousand tiny rivulets at last reaches some 
main stream which carries it toward the sea. In the 
deep forest, however, the melting of this snow is very 
gradual, and the water is given forth slowly and 
gradually to the stream, and does not cause great 
floods. Moreover, the large portion of it which is 
held by the humus, or forest floor, drains off still 
more gradually and keeps the springs and sources of 
the brook full all through the summer. 

Without protection from the warm spring sun, 
the snows of the winter might melt in a week and 
cause tremendous torrents, the whole of the melted 
snowfall rushing down the stream in a very short 
time. Without the humus, or forest floor, to act as 
a soaked sponge which gradually drains itself, the 
springs and sources of the brooks would go dry in 
early summer, and the streams further down toward 
the cultivated plains would be low and without suffi- 
cient water to irrigate all the farms along its course. 

It was for the purpose of protecting the farmers of 
the West by insuring the careful protection of the 
water supply of all streams that Congress wisely 
passed the law providing for the establishing of 
the forest reserves. It is for the benefit of these 
farmers and of those others who shall establish them- 
selves along these streams that the Presidents of the 
United States for the last twelve or fourteen years 
have been establishing forest reserves and have had 
expert foresters studying different sections of the 
western country to learn where the water was most 
needed and where it could best be had. 

457 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

It is gratifying to think that, while at first the 
establishment of these forest reserves was very un- 
popular in certain sections of the West, where their 
object was not in the least understood, they have — 
now that the people have come to see what they 
mean — received universal approval. It sometimes 
takes the public a long time to understand a matter, 
but their common sense is sure at last to bring them 
to the right side of any question. 

The list of reservations here given is brought down 
to December, 1903, and is furnished by the U. S. 
Forester — a member of the Club. 



Government Forest Reserves in the United States 
and Alaska 

ALASKA. Area in Acres 

Afognak Forest and Fish Culture Reserve 403.640 

The Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve 4,506,240 

Total 4,909,880 

ARIZONA. 

The Black Mesa Forest Reserve 1,658,880 

The Prescott Forest Reserve 423,680 

Grand Canon Forest Reserve 1,851,520 

The San Francisco Mountains Forest Reserve.. i,975,3io 

The Santa Rita Forest Reserve 387,300 

The Santa Catalina Forest Reserve IS5>520 

The Mount Graham Forest Reserve 118,600 

The Chiricahua Forest Reserve 169,600 

Total 6,740,410 

458 



The Creating of Game Refuges 

literally of vital interest, their education would 
progress rapidly, particularly that of the wary old 
bucks, experienced in danger which they had sur- 
vived in the past simply because their bump of 
caution was well developed, these would soon 
realize that they were safe within the bounds of 
a certain tract — that there the sound of the rifle 
was never heard, that there far less frequently they 
ran across the hateful scent of their enemies, and 
for some mysterious reason were left to their own 
devices. When once this idea has found firm 
lodgment in the head of an astute deer, the very 
first thing that he will do will be to get into an 
asylum of this sort, and to stay there; if he has 
any business to transact beyond its boundaries, ex- 
actly as an Indian would do in similar circum- 
stances, he will delegate the same to a young buck 
who is on his promotion, and has his reputation to 
make, and who possesses the untarnished courage 
of ignorance and youth. It seems to me that this 
system of small refuges would have the merit of 
fairness both to the hunters and to the deer, and 
it is respectfully submitted to the legislators of the 
United States. This may seem one of the simplest 
of solutions, and hardly worth a summer's cruise 
to discover. It may prove that this is not the first 
occasion when the simplest solution is the best. 

435 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

Because a thing is simple it is not always the case, 
however, that it finds the most ready acceptance. 
If, in my humble capacity of public service, I am 
the indirect means of this being accomplished, I 
shall feel that my summer's work was not alto- 
gether in vain. 

Alden Sampson. 



436 



Temiskaming Moose 

The accompanying photographs of moose were 
taken about the middle of July, 1902, on the 
Montreal river, which flows from the Ontario side 
into Lake Temiskaming. 

A number of snap shots were obtained during 
the three days' stay in this vicinity, but the others 
were at longer range and the animals appear very 
small in the negative. 

As is well known, during the hot summer 
months the moose are often to be found feeding 
on the lily pads or cooling themselves in the water, 
being driven from the bush where there are heat, 
mosquitoes and flies. 

Not having been shot at nor hunted, all the 
moose at this time seemed rather easy to ap- 
proach. Two of these pictures are of one bull, 
and the other two of one cow, the two animals 
taken on different occasions. I got three snaps of 
each before they were too far away. When first 
sighted, each was standing nibbling at the lily 

437 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

pads, and the final spurt in the canoe was made 
in each case while the animal stood with head 
clear under the water, feeding at the bottom. The 
distance of each of the first photographs taken 
was from 45 to 5 5 feet. 

Paul J. Dashiell. 



438 




A KAHRIGUR TIGER. 



Two Trophies from India 

In the early part of March, 1898, my friend, 
Mr. E. Townsend Irvin, and I arrived at the 
bungalow of Mr. Younghusband, who was Com- 
missioner of the Province of Raipur, in Central 
India. Mr. Younghusband very kindly gave us 
a letter to his neighbor, the Rajah of Kahrigur, 
who furnished us with shikaris, beaters, bullock 
carts, two ponies and an elephant. We had varied 
success the first three weeks, killing a bear, sev- 
eral nilghai, wild boar and deer. 

One afternoon our beaters stationed themselves 
on three sides of a rocky hill and my friend and 
I were placed at the open end some two hun- 
dred yards apart. The beaters had hardly begun 
to beat their tom toms and yell, when a roar came 
from the brow of the hill, and presently a large 
tiger came out from some bushes at the foot. 
He came cantering along in a clumsy fashion over 
an open space, affording us an excellent shot, and 
when he was broadside on we both fired, breaking 

439 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

his back. He could not move his hind legs, but 
stood up on his front paws. Approaching closer, 
we shot him in a vital spot. 

The natives consider the death of a tiger cause 
for general rejoicing, and forming a triumphal 
procession amid a turmoil such as only Indian 
beaters can make, they carried the dead tiger to 
camp. 

One morning word was brought to our camp, 
at a place called Bernara, that a tiger had 
killed a buffalo, some seven miles away. The 
natives had built a bamboo platform, called 
machan, in a tree by the kill, and we stationed 
ourselves on this in the late afternoon. Con- 
trary to custom, the tiger did not come back to. 
his kill until after the sun had set. The night 
was cloudy and very dark, and although several 
times we distinctly heard the tiger eating the buf- 
falo, we could not see it. At about midnight we 
were extremely stiff, and not hearing any sound, 
we returned to our temporary camp; but on the 
advice of an old shikari I returned with him to 
the machan to wait until daylight. Being tired, 
I fell asleep, but an hour before dawn the Hindu 
woke me, as the clouds had cleared away and the 
moon was shining brightly. I heard a munching 
sound, and could dimly discern a yellow form by 

440 



Two Trophies from India 

the buffalo, and taking a long aim I fired both 
barrels of my rifle. I heard nothing except the 
scuttling off of the hyenas and jackals that had been 
attracted by the dead buffalo, so I slept again until 
daylight, when, to my surprise, I saw a dead 
leopard by the buffalo. He had come to the kill 
after the tiger had finished his meal. 

John H. Prentice. 



4*1 



Big-Game Refuges 



Since the inception of the Boone and Crockett 
Club its plans and purposes have changed not a little. 
Originally organized for social purposes, for the 
encouragement of big-game hunting, and the pro- 
curing of the most effective weapons with which to 
secure the game, it has, little by little, come to be 
devoted to the broader object of benefiting this and 
succeeding generations by preserving a stock of large 
game. It is still made up of enthusiastic riflemen, 
and their love of the chase has not abated. But, since 
the Club's formation, an astonishing change has come 
over natural conditions in the United States — a 
change which, fifteen or twenty years ago, could not 
have been foreseen. The extraordinary development 
of the whole Western country, with the inevitable con- 
traction of the range of all big game, and the absolute 
reduction in the numbers of the game consequent on 
its destruction by skin hunters, head hunters and 
tooth hunters, has obliged the Boone and Crockett 
Club, in absolute self-defense, and in the hope that its 
efforts may save some of the species threatened with 
extinction, to turn its attention more and more to 
game protection. 

The Club was established in 1888. The buffalo had 
already been swept away. Since that date two species 
of elk have practically disappeared from the land, 

442 




< 5 

^ '5 

pq S 

i i 

w >' 

H 



Big-Game Refuges 

one being still represented by a few individuals which 
for some years have been preserved from destruction 
by a California cattle company ; the other, found only 
in the Southwest, in territory now included within 
the Black Mesa forest reservation, may be, perhaps, 
without a single living representative. Over a vast 
extent of the territory which the antelope once in- 
habited, it has ceased to exist ; and so speedy and so 
wholesale has been its disappearance that most of 
the Western States, slow as they always are to inter- 
fere with the privileges of their citizens to kill and 
destroy at will, have passed laws either wholly pro- 
tecting it or, at least, limiting the number to be killed 
in a season to one, two or three. In 1888 no one 
could have conceived that the diminution of the native 
large game of America would be what it has proved 
to be within the past fifteen years. 

That the game stock may re-establish itself in cer- 
tain localities, the Club has advocated the establish- 
ment in the various forest reserves of game refuges, 
where absolutely no hunting shall be permitted. 

Through the influence of William Hallett Phillips, 
a deceased member of the Club, a few lines inserted in 
an act passed by Congress March 3, 1891, permitted 
the establishment of forest reserves, and Hon. John 
W. Noble, then Secretary of the Interior, at once 
recommended the application of the law to a number 
of forest tracts, which were forthwith set aside by 
Presidential proclamation. Since then, more and 
more forest reserves have been created, and, thanks to 
the wisdom and courage of the Chief Magistrates of 
the Nation within the past twelve years, we now have 

443 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

more than sixty millions of acres of such reservations. 
These consist largely of rough, timbered mountain 
lands, unlit for cultivation or settlement. They are 
of enormous value to the arid West, as affording an 
unfailing water supply to much of that region, and 
in a less degree they are valuable as timber reserves, 
from which hereafter may be harvested crops which 
will greatly benefit the country adjacent to them. 

In the first volume of the Boone and Crockett Club 
Books, it was said : "In these reservations is to be 
found to-day every species of large game known to 
the United States, and the proper protection of the 
reservations means the perpetuating in full supply of 
all these indigenous mammals. If this care is pro- 
vided, no species of American large game need ever 
become absolutely extinct ; and intelligent effort for 
game protection may well be directed toward secur- 
ing, through national legislation, the policing of 
forest preserves by timber and game wardens." 
— American Big Game Hunting, p. 330. 

When these lines were written. Congressional 
action in this direction was hoped for at an early day ; 
but, except in the case of the Yellowstone National 
Park, such action has not been taken. Meantime, 
hunting in these forest reserves has gone on. In 
some of them game has been almost exterminated. 
Two little bunches of buflfalo which then had their 
range within the reserves have been swept out of 
existence. 

It is obvious that effectively to protect the big 
game at large there must be localities where hunting 
shall be absolutely forbidden. That any species of 

444 



Big-Game Refuges 

big game will rapidly increase if absolutely protected 
is perfectly well known ; and in the Yellowstone Park 
we have ever before us an object lesson, which shows 
precisely what effective protection of game can do. 

It is little more than twenty years since the first 
efforts were made to prevent the killing of game 
within that National Reservation, and only about ten 
years since Congress provided an effective method for 
preventing such killing. He must be dull indeed who 
does not realize what that game refuge has done for 
a great territory, and of how much actual money 
value its protection has been to the adjoining States 
of Montana and Idaho, and especially of Wyoming. 
The visit of President Roosevelt to the National Park 
last spring made these conditions plain to the whole 
nation. At that time every newspaper in the land 
gave long accounts of what the President saw and 
did there, and told of the hordes of game that he 
viewed and counted. He saw nothing that he had not 
before known of, nothing that was not well known to 
all the members of the Boone and Crockett Club; 
but it was largely through the President's visit, and 
the accounts of what he saw in the Yellowstone Park, 
that the public has come to know what rigid protec- 
tion can do and has done for our great game. 

Since such a refuge can bring about such results, it 
is high time that we had more of these refuges, in 
order that like results may follow in different sec- 
tions of the West, and for different species of wild 
game; as well for the benefit of other localities and 
their residents, as for that wider public which will 
hereafter visit them in ever increasing numbers. 

445 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

A bill introduced at the last session of Congress 
authorized the President, when in his judgment it 
should seem desirable, to set aside portions of forest 
reserves as game refuges, where no hunting should 
be allowed. The bill passed the Senate, but failed in 
the House, largely through lack of time, yet some 
opposition was manifested to it by members of 
Congress from the States in which the forest reserves 
are located, who seemed to feel that such a law would 
in some way abridge the rights and privileges of their 
constituents. This is a narrow view, and one not 
justified by the experience of persons dwelling in the 
vicinity of the Yellowstone National Park. 

If such members of Congress will consider, for 
example, the efifect on the State of Wyoming, of the 
protection of the Yellowstone Park, it seems impos- 
sible to believe that they will oppose the measure. 
Each non-resident sportsman going into Wyoming to 
hunt the game — much of which spends the summer in 
the Yellowstone Park, and each autumn overflows 
into the adjacent territory — pays to the State the 
sum of forty dollars, and is obliged by law to hire a 
guide, for whose license he must pay ten dollars 
additional ; besides that, he hires guides, saddle and 
pack animals, pays railroad and stage fare, and pur- 
chases provisions to last him for his hunt. In other 
words, at a modest calculation, each man who spends 
from two weeks to a month hunting in Wyoming 
pays to the State and its citizens not less than one 
hundred and fifty dollars. Statistics as to the number 
of hunters who visit Wyoming are not accessible ; 
but if we assume that they are only two hundred in 

446 




A BIT OF SHEEP COUNTRY 



Big-Game Refuges 

number, this means an actual contribution to the 
State of thirty thousand dollars in cash. Besides 
this, the protection of the game in such a refuge 
insures a never-failing supply of meat to the settlers 
living in the adjacent country, and offers them work 
for themselves and their horses at a time when, ranch 
work for the season being over, they have no paying 
occupation. 

The value of a few skins taken by local hunters is 
very inconsiderable when compared with such a sub- 
stantial inflow of actual cash to the State and the 
residents of the territory neighboring to such a 
refuge. Moreover, it must be remembered that, fail- 
ing to put in operation some plan of this kind, which 
shall absolutely protect the game and enable it to re- 
establish itself, the supply of meat and skins, now 
naturally enough regarded as their own peculiar pos- 
session by the settlers living where such a refuge 
might be established, will inevitably grow less and 
less as time goes on ; and, as it grows less, the con- 
tributions to State and local resources from the non- 
resident tax will also grow less. Thirty years ago 
the buffalo skinner declared that the millions of 
buffalo could never be exterminated; yet the buffalo 
disappeared, and after them one species of big game 
after another vanished over much of the country. 
The future can be judged only by the past. Thirty 
years ago there were elk all over the plains, from the 
Missouri River westward to the Rocky Mountains; 
now there are no elk on the plains, and, except in 
winter, when driven down from their summer range 
by the snows, they are found only in the timbered 

447 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

mountains. What has been so thoroughly accom- 
plished will be sure to continue ; and, unless the sug- 
gested refuges shall be established, there will soon be 
no game to protect — a real loss to the country. 

It has long been customary for Western men of a 
certain type to say that Eastern sportsmen are try- 
ing to protect the game in order that they them- 
selves may kill it, the implication being that they 
wish to take it away from those living near it, and 
who presumably have the greatest right to it. Talk 
of this kind has no foundation in fact, as is shown by 
the laws passed by the Western States, which often 
demand heavy license fees from non-residents, and 
hedge about their hunting with other restrictions. 
Many Eastern sportsmen desire to preserve the game, 
not especially that they themselves may kill it, but 
that it shall be preserved ; if they desire to kill this 
game they must and do comply with the laws estab- 
lished by the different States, and pay the license fees. 

A fundamental reason for the protection of game, 
and so for the establishment of such game refuges, 
was given by President Roosevelt in a speech made 
to the Club in the winter of 1903, when he ex- 
pressed the opinion that it was the duty of the Gov- 
ernment to establish these refuges and preserves for 
the benefit of the poor man, the man in moderate 
circumstances. The very rich, who are able to buy 
land, may establish and care for preserves of their 
own, but this is beyond the means of the man 
of moderate means ; and, unless the State and 
Federal Governments establish such reservations, a 
time is at hand when the poor man will have no place 

448 



Big-Game Refuges 

to go where he can find game to hunt. The establish- 
ment of such refuges is for the benefit of the whole 
public — not for any class — and is therefore a thor- 
oughly democratic proposition. 

There is no question as to the right of Congress to 
enact laws governing the killing of game on the 
public domain, or within a forest reserve where 
this domain lies within the boundaries of a Territory. 
Moreover, it has been determined by the courts and 
otherwise that within a State the Federal Government 
has, on a forest reserve, all the rights of an individual 
proprietor, "supplemented with the power to make 
and enforce its own laws for the assertion of those 
rights, and for the disposal and full and complete 
management, control and protection of its lands." 

In January, 1902, the Hon. John F. Lacey, of Iowa, 
a member of this Club, whose efforts in behalf of 
game protection are generally recognized, and whose 
name is attached to the well-known Lacey Law, re- 
ceived from Attorney-General Knox an opinion indi- 
cating that there is reasonable ground for the view 
that the Government may legislate for the protection 
of game on the forest reserves, whether these forest 
reserves lie within the Territories or within the States. 
From this opinion the following paragraphs are 
taken : 

"While Congress certainly may by law prohibit and punish 
the entry upon or use of any part of these forest reserves 
for the purpose of the killing, capture or pursuit of game, 
this would not be sufficient. There are many persons now 
on those reserves by authority of law, and people are ex- 
pressly authorized to go there, and it would be necessary 
to go further and to prohibit the killing, capture or pursuit 

449 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

of game, even though the entry upon the reserve is not for 
that purpose. But, the right to forbid intrusion for the pur- 
pose of killing, per se, and without reference to any trespass 
on the property, is another. The first may be forbidden as 
a trespass and for the protection of the property; but when 
a person is lawfully there and not a trespasser or intruder, 
the question is different. 

"But I am decidedly of opinion that Congress may forbid 
and punish the killing of game on these reserves, no matter 
that the slayer is lawfully there and is not a trespasser. If 
Congress may prohibit the use of these reserves for any 
purpose, it may for another; and while Congress permits 
persons to be there upon and use them for various purposes, 
it may fix limits to such use and occupation, and prescribe 
the purpose and objects for which they shall not be used, 
as for the killing, capture or pursuit of specified kinds of 
game. Generally, any private owner may forbid, upon his 
own land, any act that he chooses, although the act may 
be lawful in itself; and certainly Congress, invested also with 
legislative power, may do the same thing, just as it may 
prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquors, though such sale 
is otherwise lawful. 

"After considerable attention to the whole subject, I have 
no hesitation in expressing my opinion that Congress has 
ample power to forbid and punish any and all kinds of tres- 
pass, upon or injury to, the forest reserves, including the 
trespass of entering upon or using them for the killing, 
capture or pursuit of game. 

"The exercise of these powers would not conflict with any 
State authority. Most of the States have laws forbidding 
the killing, capture or pursuit of different kinds of game 
during specified portions of the year. This makes such kill- 
ing, etc., lawful at other times, but only lawful because not 
made unlawful. And it is lawful only when the State has 
power to make it lawful, by either implication or direct en- 
actment. But, except in those cases already referred to, such 
as eminent domain, service of process, etc., no State has 
power to authorize or make lawful a trespass upon private 

450 










jy 







Big-Game Refuges 

property. So that, though Congress should prohibit such 
killing, etc., upon its own lands, at all seasons of the year, 
this would not conflict with any State authority or control. 
That the preservation of game is part of the public policy 
of those States, and for the benefit of their own people, is 
shown by their own legislation, and they cannot complain if 
Congress upon its own lands goes even further in that direc- 
tion than the State, so long as the open season of the State 
law is not interfered with in any place where such law is 
paramount. 

"It has always been the policy of the Government to invite 
and induce the purchase and settlement of its public lands ; 
and as the existence of game thereon and in their localities 
adds to the desirability of the lands, and is a well-known 
inducement to their purchase, it may well be considered 
whether, for this purpose alone, and without reference to 
the protection of the lands from trespass. Congress may not, 
on its own lands, prohibit the killing of such game." 

In this opinion the Attorney-General further calls 
attention to the difficulties of enforcing the State law, 
and suggests that it might be well to give marshals 
and their deputies, and the superintendents, super- 
visors, rangers, and other persons charged with the 
protection of these forest reserves, power on the 
public lands, in certain cases approaching "hot pur- 
suit," to arrest without warrant. All who are 
famihar with the conditions in the more sparsely 
settled States will recognize the importance of some 
such provision. A matter of equal importance, 
though as yet not generally recognized, is that of 
providing funds for the expenses of forest officers 
making arrests. It is often the fact that no justice 
of the peace resides within fifty or a hundred miles 
of the place where the violation of the law occurs. 
The ranger making the arrest is obliged to transport 

451 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

his prisoner for this distance, and to provide him 
with transportation, food and lodging during the 
journey and during the time that he may be obliged 
to wait before bringing the prisoner arrested before 
a proper court. This may often amount to more than 
the penalty, even if the officer making the arrest 
secures a conviction; but, on the other hand, the 
individual arrested may not be able to pay his fine, 
and may have to go to jail. In this case the officer 
making the arrest is out of pocket just so much. 
Under such circumstances, it is evident that few 
officers can afford to take the risk of losing this time 
and money. 

In most States of the Union there exist consider- 
able tracts of land, mountainous, or at least barren 
and unfit for cultivation. Legislation should be had 
in each State estabhshing public parks which might 
well enough be stocked with game, which should 
there be absolutely protected. Some efforts in this 
direction have been made, notably Massachusetts, 
New York, Pennsylvania and Minnesota. In many 
of the New England States there are tracts absolutely 
barren, unoccupied and often bordered by abandoned 
farms, which could be purchased by the State for a 
very modest compensation ; and it is well worth the 
while of the Boone and Crockett Club to endeavor by 
all means in its power to secure the establishment in 
the various States of parks which might be breeding 
centers for game, great and small, on the same plan 
as the proposed refuges hoped for within the forest 

452 



Big-Game Refuges 

reservations. Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and 
practically all the States to the west of these, possess 
such areas of unoccupied land, which might wisely be 
acquired by the State and devoted to such excel- 
lent purposes. In Montana there is a long stretch of 
the Missouri River, with a narrow, shifting bottom, 
bordered on either side by miles of bad-lands, which 
would serve as such a State park. Settlers on this 
stretch of river are few in number, for the bottoms 
are not wide enough to harbor many homes, and, 
being constantly cut out by the changes of the river's 
course, are so unstable as to be of little value as farm- 
ing lands. On the other hand, the new bottoms con- 
stantly formed are soon thickly covered by willow 
brush, while the extensive bad-lands on either side 
the stream furnish an admirable refuge for deer, 
antelope, mountain sheep and bear, with which the 
country is already stocked, and were in old times a 
great haunt for elk, which might easily be reintro- 
duced there. 

There is a tendency in this country to avoid 
trouble, and to do those things which can be done 
most easily. From this it results that efforts are 
constantly being made to introduce into regions from 
which game has been exterminated various species of 
foreign game, which can be had, more or less 
domesticated, from the preserves of Europe. Thus 
red deer have been introduced in the Adirondack 
region, and it has been suggested that chamois might 
be brought from Europe and turned loose in certain 
localities in the United States, and there increase 

453 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

and furnish shooting. To many men it seems less 
trouble to contribute money for such a purpose as 
this than to buckle down and manufacture public 
sentiment in behalf of the protection of native game. 
This is a great mistake. From observations made in 
certain familiar localities, we know definitely that, 
provided there is a breeding stock, our native game, 
with absolute protection, will re-establish itself in an 
astonishingly short period of time. It would be far 
better for us to concentrate our efforts to renew the 
supply of our native game rather than to collect 
subscriptions to bring to America foreign game, 
which may or may not do well here, and may or may 
not furnish sport if it shall do well. 



454 



Forest Reserves of North America 

CALIFORNIA. Acres. 

The Lake Tahoe Forest Reserve 136,335 

The Stanislaus Forest Reserve 691,200 

Sierra Forest Reserve 4,096,000 

The Santa Barbara Forest Reserve 1,838,323 

San Bernardino Forest Reserve 737,28o 

Timber Land Reserve San Gabriel 555,520 

The San Jacinto Forest Reserve 668,160 

Trabuco Canon Forest Reserve 109,920 

Total 8,832,738 

COLORADO. 

Battle Mesa Forest Reserve 853,000 

Timber Land Reserve, Pike's Peak 184,320 

Timber Land Reserve, Plum Creek 179,200 

The South Platte Forest Reserve 683,520 

The White River Forest Reserve 1,129,920 

The San Isabel Forest Reserve 77.98o 

Total 3,107,940 

IDAHO. 

The Bitter Root Forest Reserve (see note) 3,456,000 

The Priest River Forest Reserve (see note) 541,160 

The Pocatello Forest Reserve 49.920 

Total 4,047,080 

MONTANA. 

The Yellowstone Forest Reserve (see note) 1,311,600 

The Bitter Root Forest Reserve (see note) 691,200 

The Gallatin Forest Reserve 40,320 

The Lewis and Clark Forest Reserve 4,670,720 

The Madison Forest Reserve 736,000 

The Little Belt Mountains Forest Reserve 501,000 

The Highwood Mountains Reserve 45.o8o 

Total 7,995.920 

459 



American Big Game In its Haunts 

NEBRASKA. Acres. 

The Niobrara Forest Reserve 123,779 

The Dismal River Forest Reserve 85,123 



Total 208,902 

NEW MEXICO. 

The Gila River Forest Reserve 2,327,040 

The Pecos River Forest Reserve 430,880 

The Lincoln Forest Reserve 500,000 

Total 3,257,920 

OKLAHOMA TERRITORY. 

Wichita Forest Reserve 57»i2o 

OREGON. 

Timber Land Reserve, Bull Run 142,080 

Cascade Range Forest Reserve 4,424,440 

Ashland Forest Reserve 18,560 

Total 4,58s»o8o 

SOUTH DAKOTA. 

The Black Hills Forest Reserve (see note) 1,165,240 

UTAH. 

The Fish Lake Forest Reserve 67,840 

The Uintah Forest Reserve 875,520 

The Payson Forest Reserve 111,600 

The Logan Forest Reserve 182,080 

The Manti Forest Reserve 584,640 

The Aquarius Forest Reserve 639,000 

Total 2,460,680 

WASHINGTON. 

The Priest River Forest Reserve (see note) 103,960 

The Mount Rainier Forest Reserve 2,027,520 

The Olympic Forest Reserve 1,466,880 

The Washington Forest Reserve 3,426,400 

Total 7.024,760 

460 



Forest Reserves of North America 

WYOMING. Acres. 

The Yellowstone Forest Reserve (see note) 7,017,600 

The Black Hills Forest Reserve (see note) 46,440 

The Big Horn Forest Reserve 1,216,960 

The Medicine Bow Forest Reserve 420,584 

Total 8,701,584 

Grand Total 63,095,254 

NOTE. 

Total of Bitter Root, in Idaho and Montana 4,147,200 

Total of Priest River, in Idaho and Washington. . 645,120 

Total of Black Hills, in S. Dakota and Wyoming. 1,211,680 

Total of Yellowstone, in Wyoming and Montana. 8,329,200 

United States Military Wood and Timber 
Reservations 

Kansas— Acres. 

Fort Leavenworth 939 

Montana — 

Fort Missoula 1,677 

Nebraska — 

Fort Robinson 10,240 

New Mexico — 

Fort Wingate 19,200 

New York — 

Wooded Area of West Point Mil. Res., about 1,800 

Oklahoma — 

Fort Sill 26,880 

South Dakota — 

Fort Meade 5,280 

Wyoming — 

Fort D. A. Russell 2,541 

Total 68.557 

461 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

National Parks in the United States 
Montana and Wyoming — Acres, 

Yellowstone National Park 2,142,720 

Arkansas — 

Hot Springs Reserve and National Park 912 

District of Columbia — 

The National Zoological Park 170 

Rock Creek Park 1,606 

Georgia and Tennessee — 

Chickamauga & Chattanooga Nat. Mil, Parks, 6,195 

Maryland — 

Antietam Battlefield and Nat, Mil, Park 43 

California — 

Sequoia National Park 160,000 

General Grant National Park 2,560 

Yosemite National Park 967,680 

Arizona — 

The Casa Grande Ruin (Exec. Order) 480 

Tennessee — 

Shiloh National Military Park 3,ooo 

Pennsylvania — 

Gettysburg National Military Park 877 

Mississippi — 

Vicksburg National Military Park 1,233 

Washington — 

The Mount Rainier National Park 207,360 

Oregon — 

Crater Lake iS9,36o 

Indian Territory — 

Sulphur Reservation and National Park 629 

South Dakota — 

Wind Cave 

Total 3.654.825 

462 



Forest Reserves of North America 

State Parks, State Forest Reserves and Preserves, 

State Forest Stations, and State Forest 

Tracts in the United States 

CALIFORNIA. Acres. 

Yosemtte Valley State Park 36,000 

The Big Basin Redwood Park, about 2,300 

Santa Monica Forest Station 20 

Chico Forest Station 29 

Mt. Hamilton Tract 2,500 

KANSAS. 

Ogallah Forestry Station 160 

Dodge Forestry Station 160 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

Blue Hills Reservation 4.858 

Beaver Brook Reservation 53 

Middlesex Fells Reservation 3>028 

Stony Brook Reservation 464 

Hemlock Gorge Reservation 23 

Hart's Hill Reservation 23 

Wachusett Mountain Reservation 1,380 

Greylock Reservation 3.724 

Goodwill Park 70 

Rocky Narrows 21 

Mount Anne Park 50 

Monument Mountain Reservation 260 

MICHIGAN. 

Mackinac Island State Park 103 

Michigan Forest Reserve 57,ooo 

MINNESOTA. 
Minnehaha Falls State Park, or Minnesota State 

Park SI 

Itasca State Park 20,000 

St. Croix State Park, or the Interstate Park at 

the Dalles of the St. Croix 500 

463 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

NEW YORK. Acres. 

The State Reservation at Niagara, or Niagara 
Falls Park. (Area of Queen Victoria Niagara 

Falls Park in Canada — 730 Acres) 107 

Adirondack Forest Preserve 1,163,414 

Catskill Forest Preserve 82,330 

The St. Lawrence Reservation, or International 

Park 181 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Twenty Reserves scattered 211,776 

The Hopkins Reserve 62,000 

Pike County Reservation 23,000 

McElhattan Reservation 8,000 

WASHINGTON. 
Sanitarium Lake Reservation 193 

WISCONSIN. 
The Interstate Park of the Dalles of the St. Croix 600 

WYOMING. 
The Big Horn Springs Reservation 640 

Total 1,685,023 

Canadian National Parks and Timber Reserves 

The Dominion of Canada has established a large 
number of public parks and forests reserves, of which 
a list has been very kindly furnished by the Dominion 
Secretary of the Interior, as follows : 

BRITISH COLUMBIA. Acres. 

Long Lake Timber Reserve 76,800 

Yoho Park (a part of Rocky Mt. Park of Can) 

Glacier Forest Park 18,720 

464 



Forest Reserves of North America 

NORTHWEST TERRITORY. Acres. 

Rocky Mountain Park of Canada 2,880,000 

Foot Hills Timber Reserve 2,350,000 

Waterton Lakes Forest Park 34,000 

Cooking Lakes Timber Reserve 109,000 

Moose Mountain Timber Reserve 103,000 

Beaver Hills Timber Reserve 170,000 

MANITOBA. 

Turtle Mountain Timber Reserve 7S>ooo 

Spruce Woods Timber Reserve 190,000 

Riding Mountain Timber Reserve 1,215,000 

Duck Mountain Timber Reserve 840,000 

Lake Manitoba West Timber Reserve i59>46o 

ONTARIO. 

Algonquin Park 1,109,383 

Eastern Reserve 80,000 

Sibley Reserve 45,000 

Temagami Reserve 3j774.ooo 

Rondeau Park 

Missisaga Reserve 1,920,000 

QUEBEC. 
Laurentides National Park 1,619,840 

Total 16,769,203 

Besides these, there are two or three other reserva- 
tions in Quebec and New Brunswick and Manitoba 
that have not as yet been finally reserved, but which 
are in contemplation. Many of the timber reserves 
are still to be cut over under license. On the other 
hand, many of them find their chief function as game 
preserves, as do also to still greater extent the 
national parks. A large number of these parks and 
timber reserves are clothed with beautiful and valu- 
able forests, as yet untouched by the ax. 

465 



APPENDIX 



In order to be in a position to make intelligent 
recommendations, in case legislation authorizing 
the setting aside of game refuges should be had, the 
Boone and Crockett Club, in the year 1901, made 
some inquiry into the game conditions on certain of 
the forest reservations and as to the suitability as 
game refuges of these reserves. 

Among the reports was one on the Black Mesa 
Forest Reserve. Mr. Nelson is a trained natural- 
ist and hunter of wide experience, and possesses 
the highest qualifications for investigating such a 
subject. He is, besides, very familiar with the reser- 
vation reported on. His report is printed here as 
giving precisely the information needed by any one 
who may have occasion to deal with a forest reserve 
from this viewpoint, and it may well serve as a model 
for others who may have occasion to report on the 
reserves. The report was made to the Executive 
Committee of the Boone and Crockett Club through 
the editor of this volume, and was printed in Forest 
and Stream about two years ago. It follows : 

466 



Forest Reserves as Game Preserves 



THE BLACK MESA FOREST RESERVE OF ARIZONA AND 
ITS AVAILABILITY AS A GAME PRESERVE. 

The Black Mesa Forest Reserve lies in central- 
eastern Arizona, and contains 1,658,880 acres, is 
about 180 miles long in a northwesterly and south- 
easterly direction and a direct continuation southeast- 
erly from the San Francisco Mountain Forest Reserve. 
On the north it contains a part of the Mogollon Mesa, 
which is covered with a magnificent open forest of 
Arizona yellow pine {Pinus ponderosa), in which there 
is an abundance of bunch grass and here and there 
are beautiful grassy parks. To the southeast the 
reserve covers a large part of the White Mountains, 
one of the largest areas of generally high elevation 
in Arizona. The yellow pine forest, similar in char- 
acter to that on the Mogollon Mesa, is found over a 
large part of the reserve between 7,000 and 8,500 feet 
altitude, and its general character is shown in the 
accompanying view. 

The Black Mesa Reserve is irregular in outline. 
The large compact areas at each end are joined by a 
long, narrow strip, very irregular in outHne and less 
than a township broad at various points. It lies 
along the southern border of the Great Colorado 
Plateau, and covers the southern and western borders 

467 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

of the basin of the Little Colorado River. Taken as a 
whole, this reserve includes some of the wildest and 
most attractive mountain scenery in the West. 

Owing to the wide separation of the two main areas 
of the reserve, and certain differences in physical 
character, they will be described separately, beginning 
with the northwestern and middle areas, which are 
similar in character. 

THE NORTHWESTERN SECTION OF THE BLACK 
MESA RESERVE. 

With the exception of an area in the extreme 
western part, which drains into the Rio Verde, prac- 
tically all of this portion of the reserve lies along the 
upper border of the basin of the Little Colorado. It 
is a continuation of the general easy slope which 
begins about 5,000 feet on the river and extends back 
so gradually at first that it is frequently almost im- 
perceptible, but by degrees becomes more rolling 
and steeper until the summit is reached at an altitude 
of from 6,000 to 9,000 feet. The reserve occupies the 
upper portion of this slope, which has more the form 
of a mountainous plateau country, scored by deep 
and rugged cations, than of a typical mountain range. 
From the summit of this elevated divide, with the 
exception of the district draining into the Rio Verde, 
the southern and western slope drops away abruptly 
several thousand feet into Tonto Creek Basin. The 
top of the huge escarpment thus formed faces south 
and west, and is known as the rim of Tonto Basin, 
or, locally, "The Rim." From the summit of this 
gigantic rocky declivity is obtained an inspiring view 

468 



Forest Reserves as Game Preserves 

of the south, where range after range of mountains 
lie spread out to the distant horizon. 

The roIHng plateau country sloping toward the 
Little Colorado is heavily scored with deep box 
cations often hundreds of feet deep and frequently 
inaccessible for long distances. Most of the per- 
manent surface water is found in these cafions, and 
the general drainage is through them down to the 
lower plains bordering the river. The greater part 
of this portion of the reserve is covered with yellow 
pine forests, below which is a belt, varying greatly 
in width, of pifions, cedars and junipers, interspersed 
with a more or less abundant growth of gramma 
grass. This belt of scrubby conifers contains many 
open grassy areas, and nearer the river gives way to 
continuous broad grassy plains. Nowhere in this 
district, either among the yellow pines or in the 
lower country, is there much surface water, and a 
large share of the best watering places are occupied 
by sheep owners. 

The wild and rugged slopes of Tonto Basin, with 
their southerly exposure, have a more arid character 
than the area just described. On these slopes yellow 
pines soon give way to piiions, cedars and junipers, 
and many scrubby oaks and various species of hardy 
bushes. The watering places are scarce until the 
bottom of the basin is approached. Tonto Basin and 
its slopes are also occupied by numerous sheep herds, 
especially in winter. 

There are several small settlements of farmers, 
sheep and cattle growers within the limits of the 
narrow strip connecting the larger parts of the re- 

469 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

serve, notably Show Low, Pinetop and Linden. The 
wagon road from Holbrook, on the Santa Fe Pacific 
Railroad, to the military post at Camp Apache, on the 
[White Mountain Indian Reservation, passes through 
this strip by way of Show Low. The old trails 
through Sunset Pass to Camp Verde and across 
"The Rim" into Tonto Basin traverse the northern 
part of the reserve, and are used by stockmen and 
others at short intervals, except in midwinter. 

The climate of this section of the reserve is rather 
arid in summer, the rainfall being much more uncer- 
tain than in the more elevated areas about the San 
Francisco Mountains to the northwest and the White 
Mountains to the southeast. The summers are 
usually hot and dry, the temperature being modified, 
however, by the altitude. Rains sometimes occur 
during July and August, but are more common in 
the autumn, when they are often followed by abund- 
ant snowfall. During some seasons snow falls to a 
depth of three or more feet on a level in the yellow 
pine forests, and remains until spring. During other 
seasons, however, the snowfall is insignificant, and 
much of the ground remains bare during the winter, 
especially on southern exposures. As a matter of 
course, the lower slope of the piiion belt and the 
grassy plains of the Little Colorado, both of which 
lie outside of the reserve, have less and less snow, 
according to the altitude, and it never remains for 
any very considerable time. On the southern ex- 
posure, facing Tonto Basin, the snow is still less 
permanent. The winter in the yellow pine belt 
extends from November to April. 

470 



Forest Reserves as Game Preserves 

LARGE GAME IN THE NORTHERN PART OF THE 
BLACK MESA RESERVE. 

Black-tailed deer, antelope, black and silver tipped 
bears and mountain lions are the larger game animals 
which frequent the yellow pine forests in summer. 
Wild turkeys are also common. 

The black-tailed deer are still common and gener- 
ally distributed. In winter the heavy snow drives 
them to a lower range in the piiion belt toward the 
Little Colorado and also down the slope of Tonto 
Basin, both of these areas lying outside the reserve. 
The Arizona white-tailed deer is resident throughout 
the year in comparatively small numbers on the 
brushy slopes of Tonto Basin, and sometimes strays 
up in summer into the border of the pine forest. 
Antelope were once plentiful on the plains of the 
Little Colorado, and in summer ranged through the 
open yellow pine forest now included in the reserve. 
They still occur, in very Hmited numbers, in this 
forest during the summer, and at the first snowfall 
descend to the lower border of the pifion belt and 
adjacent grassy plains. Both species of bears occur 
throughout the pine forests in summer, often follow- 
ing sheep herds. As winter approaches and the sheep 
are moved out of the higher ranges, many of the 
bears go over "The Rim" to the slopes of Tonto 
Basin, where they find acorns, juniper berries and 
other food, until cold weather causes them to hiber- 
nate. The mountain lions are always most numerous 
on the rugged slopes of Tonto Basin, especially dur- 
ing winter, when sheep and game have left the 
elevated forest. 

471 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

From the foregoing- notes it is apparent that the 
northwestern and middle portions of the Black Mesa 
Reserve are without proper winter range for game 
within its limits, and that the conditions are other- 
wise unfavorable for their use as game preserves. 

THE SOUTHEASTERN SECTION OF THE BLACK MESA 
EESERVE. 

The southeastern portion of the reserve remains to 
be considered. The map shows this to be a rectangu- 
lar area, about thirty by fifty miles in extent, lying 
between the White Mountain Indian Reservation and 
the western border of New Mexico, and covering the 
adjacent parts of Apache and Graham counties. It 
includes the eastern part of the White Mountains, 
which culminate in Ord and Thomas peaks, rising 
respectively to 10,266 feet and to 11,496 feet, on the 
White Mountain Indian Reservation, just off the 
western border of the Forest Reserve, This section 
of the reserve is strikingly more varied in physical 
conditions than the northern portion, as will be 
shown by the following description : 

The northwestern part of this section, next to the 
peaks just mentioned, is an elevated mountainous 
plateau country forming the watershed between the 
extreme headwaters of the Little Colorado on the 
north and the Black and San Francisco rivers, trib- 
utaries of the Gila, on the south. The divide between 
the heads of these streams is so low that in the 
midst of the undulating country, where they rise, it is 
often difficult to determine at first sight to which 
drainage some of the small tributaries belong. This 
district is largely of volcanic formation, and beds of 

472 



Forest Reserves as Game Preserves 

lava cover large tracts, usually overlaid with soil, 
on which the forest flourishes. 

The entire northern side of this section is bordered 
by the sloping grassy plains of the Little Colorado, 
which at their upper border have an elevation of 
6,500 to 7,500 feet, and are covered here and there 
with pifions, cedars and junipers, especially along 
the sides of the canons and similar slopes. At the 
upper border of this belt the general slope becomes 
abruptly mountainous, and rises to 8,000 or 8,500 
feet to a broad bench-like summit, from which ex- 
tends back the elevated plateau country already men- 
tioned. This outer slope of the plateau is covered 
with a fine belt of yellow pine forests, similar in char- 
acter to that found in the northern part of the re- 
serve. Owing to the more abrupt character of the 
northerly slope of this belt, and its greater humidity, 
the forest is more varied by firs and aspens, especially 
along the cafions, than is the case further north. 
Here and there along the upper tributaries of the 
Little Colorado, small valleys open out, which are 
frequently wooded and contain beautiful mountain 
parks. 

The summit of the elevated plateau country about 
the headwaters of the Little Colorado and Black 
rivers (which is known locally as the "Big Mesa"), 
is an extended area of rolling grassy plain, entirely 
surrounded by forests and varied irregularly by 
wooded ridges and points of timber. This open plain 
extends in a long sweep from a point a few miles 
south of Springerville westward for about fifteen 
miles along the top of the divide to the bases of 

473 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

Ord and Thomas peaks. These elevated plains are 
separated from those of the Little Colorado to the 
north by the belt of forests already described as 
covering the abrupt northern wall of the plateau. 
On the other sides of the "Big Mesa" an unbroken 
forest extends away over the undulating mountainous 
country as far as the eye can reach. The northerly 
slopes of the higher elevations in this section are 
covered with spruce forest. 

The most varied and beautiful part of the entire 
Black Mesa Reserve lies in the country extending 
southeasterly from Ord and Thomas peaks and im- 
mediately south of the "Big Mesa." This is the ex- 
treme upper part of the basin of Black River, which 
is formed by numerous little streams rising from 
springs and wet meadows at an elevation of from 
8,500 to 9,500 feet. The little meadows form attrac- 
tive grassy openings in the forest, covered in summer 
with a multitude of wild flowers and surrounded by 
the varied foliage of dififerent trees and shrubs. The 
little streams flow down gently sloping courses, which 
gradually deepen to form shallow side caiions leading 
into the main river. Black River is a clear, sparkling 
trout stream at the bottom of a deep, rugged box 
cafion, cut through a lava bed and forming a series 
of wildly picturesque views. The sides of Black 
River Canon and its small tributaries are well for- 
ested. On the cool northerly slope the forest is made 
up of a heavy growth of pines, firs, aspens and alder 
bushes, which give way on the southerly slope, where 
the full force of the sun is felt, to a thin growth of 
pines, grass and a little underbrush. 

474 



Forest Reserves as Game Preserves 

At the head of Black River, between 8,000 and 
9,000 feet, there are many nearly level or gently 
sloping areas, sometimes of considerable extent. 
These are covered with open yellow pine forests, 
with many white-barked aspens scattered here and 
there, and an abundance of grasses and low bushes. 
This was once a favorite summer country for elk, and 
I have seen there many bushes and small saplings 
which had been twisted and barked by bull elk while 
rubbing the velvet from their horns. 

Immediately south and east of Black River lies the 
Prieto Plateau, a well wooded mountain mass rising 
steeply from Black River Cation to a broad summit 
about 9,000 feet in altitude. The northerly slopes of 
this plateau, facing the river, are heavily forested 
with pines, firs, aspens and brushy undergrowth, and 
are good elk country. The summit is cold and damp, 
with areas of spruce thickets and attractive wet 
meadows scattered here and there. Beyond the sum- 
mit of the plateau, to the south and east, the country 
descends abruptly several thousand feet, in a series 
of rocky declivities and sharp spur-like ridges, to the 
caiion of Blue River, a tributary of the San Fran- 
cisco River. This slope, near the summit, is over- 
grown with firs, aspens and pines, which give way 
as the descent is made, to pifions, cedar and scrubby 
oak trees and a more or less abundant growth of 
chaparral. Small streams and springs are found in 
the larger canons on this slope, while far below, at 
an altitude of about 5,000 feet, Hes Blue River. 

The country at the extreme head of Blue River 
forms a great mountain amphitheater, with one side 

475 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

so near the upper course of Black River that one can 
traverse the distance between the basins of the two 
streams in a short ride. The descent into the drain- 
age of Blue River is very abrupt, and is known locally 
as the "breaks" of Blue River. The scenery of 
these breaks nearly, if not quite, equals that on "The 
Rim" of Tonto Basin in its wild magnificence. The 
vegetation on the breaks shows at a glance the 
milder character of the climate, as compared with 
that of the more elevated area about the head of 
Black River. In the midst of the shrubbery growth 
on the breaks there is a fine growth of nutritious 
grasses, which forms excellent winter forage. 

The entire southern part of the reserve lying be- 
yond the Prieto Plateau is an excessively broken 
mountainous country, with abrupt changes in altitude 
from the hot canons, where cottonwoods flourish, to 
the high ridges, where pines and firs abound. 

The northeastern part of the section of the reserve 
under consideration is cut oflf from the rest by the 
valley of Nutrioso Creek, a tributary of the Little 
Colorado, and by the headwaters of the San Fran- 
cisco River. It is a limited district, mainly occupied 
by Escudilla Mountain, rising to 10,691 feet, and its 
foothills. Escudilla Mountain slopes abruptly to a 
long truncated summit, and is heavily forested from 
base to summit by pines, aspens and spruces. On 
the south the foothills merge into the generally 
mountainous area. On the north, at an altitude of 
about 8,000 feet, they merge into the plains of the 
Little Colorado, varied by grassy prairies and irregu- 
lar belts of pinon timber. 

476 



Forest Reserves as Game Preserves 

The upper parts of the Little Colorado and Black 
Rivers, above 7,500 feet, are clear and cold, and well 
stocked with a native species of small brook trout. 

Owing to the generally elevated character of the 
southeastern section of the Black Mesa Reserve, 
containing three mountain peaks rising above 10,000 
feet, the annual precipitation is decidedly greater than 
elsewhere on the reserve. The summer rains are 
irregular in character, being abundant in some sea- 
sons and very scanty in others; but there is always 
enough rainfall about the extreme head of Black 
River to make grass, although there is always much 
hot, dry weather between May and October. The fall 
and winter storms are more certain than those of 
summer, and the parts of the reserve lying above 
8,000 feet are usually buried in snow before spring — 
frequently with several feet of snow on a level. The 
amount of snow increases steadily with increase of 
altitude. Some of the winter storms are severe, and 
on one occasion, while living at an altitude of 7,500 
feet, I witnessed a storm during which snow fell con- 
tinuously for nearly two days. The weather was 
perfectly calm at the time, and after the first day the 
pine trees became so loaded that an almost continual 
succession of reports were heard from the breaking 
of large branches. At the close of the storm there 
was a measured depth of 26 inches of snow on a level 
at an altitude of 7,500 feet. A thousand feet lower, 
on the plains of the Little Colorado, a few miles to 
the north, only a foot of snow fell, while at higher 
altitudes the amount was much greater than that 
measured. 

477 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

The summer temperatures are never excessive in 
this section, and the winters are mild, although at 
times reaching from 15 to 20 degrees below zero. 
Above 7,500 feet, except on sheltered south slopes, 
snow ordinarily remains on the ground from four to 
five months in sufficient quantity to practically close 
this area from winter grazing. Cattle, and the an- 
telope which once frequented the "Big Mesa" in con- 
siderable numbers, appeared to have premonitions of 
the coming of the first snow in fall. On one occasion, 
while stopping at a ranch on the plains of the Little 
Colorado, just below the border of the Big Mesa 
country, in November, I was surprised to see hun- 
dreds of cattle in an almost endless line coming down 
from the Mesa, intermingled with occasional bands of 
antelope. They were following one of the main trails 
leading from the mountain out on the plains of the 
Little Colorado. Although the sun was shining at 
the time, there was a slight haziness in the atmos- 
phere, and the ranchmen assured me that this move- 
ment of the stock always foretold the approach of a 
snowstorm. The following morning the plains 
around the ranch where I was stopping were covered 
with six inches of snow, while over a foot of snow 
covered the mountains. Bands of half-wild horses 
ranging on the Big Mesa show more indifference 
to snow, as they can dig down to the grass ; but the 
depth of snow sometimes increases so rapidly that 
the horses become "yarded," and their owners have 
much difficulty in extricating them. 

The southerly slopes leading down from the divide 
to the lower altitudes along the Black River and the 

478 



Forest Reserves as Game Preserves 

breaks of the Blue, are sheltered from the cold north- 
erly winds of the Little Colorado Valley, while the 
greater natural warmth of the situation aids in pre- 
venting any serious accumulation of snow. As a re- 
sult, this entire portion of the reserve forms an ideal 
winter game range, with an abundance of grass and 
edible bushes. The varied character of the country 
about the head of Black River makes it an equally 
favorable summer range for game, and that this con- 
junction of summer and winter ranges is appreciated 
by the game animals is shown by the fact that this 
district is probably the best game country in all 
Arizona. 

LARGE GAME IN THE SOUTHEASTERN" PART OP THB 
BLACK MESA RESERVE. 

The large game found in this section of the reserve 
includes the elk, black-tailed deer, Arizona white- 
tailed deer, black and silver-tipped bears, mountain 
lions and wildcats, timber wolves and coyotes. 

Elk were formerly found over most of the pine and 
fir forested parts of this section of the reserve, but 
were already becoming rather scarce in 1885, ^"d, 
although they were still found there in 1897, it is 
now a question whether any survive or not. If they 
still survive, they are restricted to a limited area 
about the head of Black River from Ord Peak to the 
Prieto Plateau. Black-tailed deer are still common, 
and their summer range extends more or less gen- 
erally over all of the forested part of this section 
above 7,500 feet. In winter only a few stray indi- 
viduals remain within the reserve on the Little Col- 

479 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

orado side, but a number range out into the pinon 
country on the plains of the Little Colorado. The 
country about the head of Black River is a favorite 
summer range of this deer, but in winter they grad- 
ually retreat before the heavy snowfalls to the shel- 
tered cafions along Black River and the breaks of 
the Blue. In September and October the old males 
keep by themselves in parties of from four to ten 
and range through the glades of the yellow pine 
forest. 

The Arizona white-tailed deer is not found on the 
part of the reserve drained by the Little Colorado 
River, but is abundant in the basin of Blue River, 
and ranges in summer up into the lower part of the 
yellow pine forest along Black River. They retreat 
before the early snows to the breaks of the Blue, 
where they are very numerous. During hunting 
trips into their haunts in October and November, I 
have several times seen herds of these deer number- 
ing from thirty to forty, both before and after the 
first snowfall. Antelope formerly ranged up in sum- 
mer from the plains of the Little Colorado over the 
grassy Big Mesa country and through the surround- 
ing open pine forest, retreating to the plains in the 
autumn, but they are now nearly or quite exter- 
minated in that section. Bears of both species wander 
irregularly over most of the reserve in summer, but 
are most numerous on the breaks of the Blue and 
about the head of Black River. In autumn, previous 
to their hibernation, they descend along the cafion 
of the Black River and among the breaks of the 
Blue, where acorns and other food is abundant. 

480 



Forest Reserves as Game Preserves 

Mountain lions also wander over all parts of the 
reserve, but are common only in the rough country 
along the Blue. Wildcats are rather common and 
widely distributed, but are far more numerous on 
the Black and the Blue rivers. Timber wolves were 
once rather common, but are now nearly extinct, 
owing to their persecution by owners of sheep and 
cattle. Coyotes occur in this district occasionally in 
summer. Wild turkeys are found more or less gen- 
erally throughout this section of the reserve, retreat- 
ing in winter to the warmer country along the breaks 
of the Blue and the cafion of Black River, where they 
sometimes gather in very large flocks. 

NOTES ON SETTLEMENTS^ ROADS AND OTHER MATTERS. 

The greater part of this section of the Black Mesa 
Reserve is unsettled, but the northeastern corner, 
along Nutrioso Creek and the head of San Francisco 
River, is traversed by a wagon road leading to 
Springerville. Within the limits of the reservation 
on this road are two small farming villages of 
Nutrioso and Alpine. The owners of the small 
farms along the valleys of these streams also raise a 
limited number of cattle and horses on the surround- 
ing hills. A few claims are also held at scattered 
points along the extreme northern edge of the reserve 
between Springerville and Nutrioso. Between 1883. 
and 1895 several herds of cattle were grazed on the 
head of Black River, and ranged in winter down on 
the breaks of the Blue and the cafions of Black 
River ; but I understand that these ranges have since 
been abandoned by the cattle men. For some years 

481 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

the sheep men have grazed their flocks in summer 
over the Big Mesa country and through the sur- 
rounding open forest. In addition to the damage 
done by the grazing of the sheep, the carelessness of 
the herders in starting forest fires has resulted in 
some destruction to the timber. Fortunately, the 
permanent settlers on this section of the reserve are 
located in the northeastern corner, which is the least 
suitable portion of the tract for game. In addition to 
the wagon road from Springerville to Nutrioso another 
road has been made from Springerville south across 
the Big Mesa to the head of Black River. Trails run 
from Nutrioso and Springerville to the head of Blue 
River and down it to the copper mining town of 
Clifton, but are little used. At various times scat- 
tered settlers have located along the Blue, and cul- 
tivated small garden patches. The first of these 
settlers were killed by the Apaches, and I am unable 
to say whether these farms are now occupied or not. 
In any case, the conditions along the upper Blue are 
entirely unsuited for successful farming. 

Perhaps the most serious menace to the successful 
preservation of game on this tract is its proximity to 
the White Mountain Indian Reservation. This reser- 
vation not only takes in some of the finest game 
country immediately bordering the timber reserve, 
including Ord and Thomas peaks, but is often visited 
by hunting parties of Indians. 

During spring and early summer, all of the yellow 
pine and fir country in this section is subjected to a 
plague of tabano flies, which are about the size of 
large horse-flies. These flies swarm in great numbers 

482 



Forest Reserves as Game Preserves 

and attack stock and game so viciously that, as a 
consequence, the animals are frequently much re- 
duced in flesh. The Apaches take advantage of this 
plague to set fire to the forest and lie in wait for 
the game, which has taken shelter in the smoke to 
rid itself from the flies. In this way the Indians kill 
large numbers of breeding deer, and at the same 
time destroy considerable areas of forest. While on 
a visit to this district in the summer of 1899 Mr. 
Pinchot saw the smoke of five forest fires at different 
places in the mountains, which had been set by hunt- 
ing parties of Indians for the purpose. The only 
method by which not only the game but the forest 
along the western side of this reserve can be success- 
fully protected will be to have the western border of 
the forest reserve extended to take in a belt eight to 
twelve miles wide of the Indian reservation. This 
would include Ord and Thomas peaks, and would 
serve efficiently to protect the country about the 
headwaters of the rivers from these destructive 
inroads. 

The northern border of this section of the reserve 
is about one hundred miles by wagon road from the 
nearest point on the Santa Fe Pacific Railroad. Seven 
miles from its northern border is the town of Spring- 
erville, with a few hundred inhabitants in its vicinity 
engaged in farming, cattle and sheep growing. From 
Springerville north extends the plains of the Little 
Colorado to St. Johns, the county seat of Apache 
county, containing a few hundred people. To the 
south and east of the reserve there are no towns 
for some distance, except a few small settlements 

483 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

along the course of the San Francisco River in New 
Mexico, which are far removed from the part of the 
reserve which is most suitable for game. The fact 
that deer continue abundant in the district about the 
head of Black River, although hunted at all seasons 
for many years, and the continuance there of elk for 
so long, under the same conditions, is good evidence 
of the favorable conditions existing in that section 
for game. 

E. W, Nelson. 



484 



Constitution of the Boone and Crockett Club 

FOUNDED DECEMBER 1887. 



Article I. 

This Club shall be known as the Boone and 
Crockett Club. 

Article II. 

The objects of the Club shall be: 

1. To promote manly sport with the rifle. 

2. To promote travel and exploration in the wild 
and unknown, or but partially known, portions of the 
country. 

3. To work for the preservation of the large game 
of this country, and, so far as possible, to further 
legislation for that purpose, and to assist in enforcing 
the existing laws. 

4. To promote inquiry into, and to record observa- 
tions on, the habits and natural history of the various 
wild animals. 

5. To bring about among the members the inter- 
change of opinions and ideas on hunting, travel and 
exploration ; on the various kinds of hunting rifles ; 
on the haunts of game animals, etc. 

4S5 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

Article III. 

No one shall be eligible for regular membership 
who shall not have killed with the rifle, in fair chase, 
by still-hunting or otherwise, at least one individual 
of each of three of the various kinds of American 
large game. 

Article IV. 

Under the head of American large game are in- 
cluded the following animals : Black or brown bear, 
grizzly bear, polar bear, bufTalo (bison), mountain 
sheep, woodland caribou, barren-ground caribou, 
cougar, musk-ox, white goat, elk (wapiti), prong- 
horn antelope, moose, Virginia deer, mule deer, and 
Columbian black-tail deer. 

Article V. 

The term "fair chase" shall not be held to include 
killing bear or cougar in traps, nor "fire hunting," 
nor "crusting" moose, elk or deer in deep snow, nor 
"calling" moose, nor kilHng deer by any other method 
than fair stalking or still-hunting, nor killing game 
from a boat while it is swimming in the water, nor 
killing the female or young of any ruminant, except 
the female of white goat or of musk-ox. 

Article VI. 

This Club shall consist of not more than one hun- 
'dred regular members, and of such associate and 
honorary members as may be elected by the Execu- 
tive Committee. Associate members shall be chosen 

486 



Constitution, Boone and Crockett Club 

from those who by their furtherance of the objects of 
the Club, or general qualifications, shall recommend 
themselves to the Executive Committee. Associate 
and honorary members shall be exempt from dues 
and initiation fees, and shall not be entitled to vote. 

Article VII. 

The officers of the Club shall be a President, five 
Vice-Presidents, a Secretary, and a Treasurer, all of 
whom shall be elected annually. There shall also be 
an Executive Committee, consisting of six members, 
holding office for three years, the terms of two of 
whom shall expire each year. The President, the 
Secretary, and the Treasurer, shall be ex-oMcio mem- 
bers of the Executive Committee. 

Article VIII. 

The Executive Committee shall constitute the 
Committee on Admissions. The Committee on Ad- 
missions may recommend for regular membership by 
unanimous vote of its members present at any meet- 
ing, any person who is qualified under the foregoing 
articles of this Constitution. Candidates thus recom- 
mended shall be voted on by the Club at large. Six 
blackballs shall exclude, and at least one-third of the 
members must vote in the affirmative to elect. 

Article IX. 

The entrance fee for regular members shall be 
twenty-five dollars. The annual dues of regular 

487 



American Big Game in its Haunts 

members shall be five dollars, and shall be payable on 
February ist of each year. Any member who shall 
fail to pay his dues on or before August ist, follow- 
ing, shall thereupon cease to be a member of the 
Club. But the Executive Committee, in their dis- 
cretion, shall have power to reinstate such member. 

Article X. 

The use of steel traps ; the making of "large bags" ; 
the killing of game while swimming in water, or help- 
less in deep snow; and the killing of the females of 
any species of ruminant (except the musk-ox or white 
goat), shall be deemed offenses. Any member who 
shall commit such offenses may be suspended, or ex- 
pelled from the Club by unanimous vote of the 
Executive Committee. 

Article XI. 

The officers of the Club shall be elected for the 
ensuing year at the annual meeting. 

Article XII. 

This Constitution may be amended by a two-thirds 
vote of the members present at any annual meeting of 
the Club, provided that notice of the proposed amend- 
ment shall have been mailed, by the Secretary, to each 
member of the Club, at least two weeks before said 
meeting. 



By-Laws 
Rules of the Committee on Admissioa 



1. Candidates must be proposed and seconded in 
writing by two members of the Club. 

2. Letters concerning each candidate must be ad- 
dressed to the Executive Committee by at least two 
members, other than the proposer and seconder. 

3. No candidate for regular membership shall be 
proposed or seconded by any member of the Com- 
mittee on Admissions. 

4. No person shall be elected to associate mem- 
bership who is qualified for regular membership, but 
withheld therefrom by reason of there being no 
vacancy. 

Additional information as to the admission of mem- 
bers may be found in Articles III, VI, VIII and IX 
of the Constitution. 



Former Officers Boone and Crockett Club 



President. 




Theodore Roosevelt, 


1888- 1894. 


Benjamin H. Bristow, 


1895-1896. 


W. Austin Wadsworth, 


1897- 


Vice-Presidents. 




Charles Deering, 


1897- 


Walter B. Devereux, 


1897- 


Howard Melville Hanna, 


1897- 


William D. Pickett, 


1897- 


Frank Thomson, 


1897-1900. 


Owen Wister, 


1 900- 1 902. 


Archibald Rogers, 


1903- 


Secretary and Treasurer. 


Archibald Rogers, 


1888-1893. 


George Bird Grinnell, 


I 894- I 895. 


C. Grant La Farge, 


1896-1901. 


Secretary. 




Alden Sampson, 


1902. 


Madison Grant, 


1903- 


Treasurer. 




C. Grant La Farge, 


1902- 


Executive Committee. 




W. Austin Wadsworth, 


1893- 1896. 


George Bird Grinnell, 


1893. 


Winthrop Chanler, 


1893-1899, 1904- 


Owen Wister, 


1893-1896, 1903- 


Charles F. Deering, 


1893- I 896. 


Archibald Rogers, 


1894- I 902. 


Lewis Rutherford Morris, 


1897- 


Henry L. Stimson, 


1897-1899. 


Madison Grant, 


1897-1902. 


Gifford Pinchot, 


1900-1903. 


Caspar Whitney, 


1900-1903. 


John Rogers, Jr., 


1902- 


Alden Sampson, 


1903- 


Arnold Hague, 


1904- 


Editorial Committee. 




George Bird Grinnell, 


1896- 


Theodore Roosevelt, 


1896- 


490 





Officers 

of the Boone and Crockett Club 

1904 

President. 
W. Austin Wadsworth Geneseo, N. Y. 

Vice-Presidents. 

Charles Deering Illinois. 

Walter B. Devereux Colorado 

Howard Melville Hanna Ohio. 

William D. Pickett Wyoming. 

Archibald Rogers New York. 

Secretary. 
Madison Grant New York City. 

Treasurer. 
C. Grant La Farge New York City. 

Executive Committee. 

W. Austin Wadsworth, ex-otHcio, Chairman, 

Madison Grant, cx-oMcio, 

C. Grant La Farge, ex-oMcio, 
Lewis Rutherford Morris, | ^o serve until 1905. 
John Rogers, Jr., j 

Alden Sampson, | ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^.^ ^^^^ 

Owen Wister, j 

Arnold Hague, \ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^1 ^^^^ 

Winthrop Chanler, ) 

Editorial Committee. 

George Bird Grinnell New York. 

Theodore Roosevelt Washington, D. C. 

491 



List of Members 
of the Boone and Crockett Club, 1904 



Regular Members. 



Major Henry T. Allen, 
Col. George S. ANDERSOif, 
James W. Appleton, 
Gen. Thomas H. Barber, 
Daniel M. Barringer, 
F. S. Billings, 
George Bird, 
George Bleistein, 
w. j. boardman, 
William B. Bogert, 
William B. Bristow, 
Arthur Erwin Brown, 
Capt. Willard H. Brownson, 
John Lambert Cadwalader, 
Royal Phelps Carroll, 
Winthrop Chanler, 
William Astor Chanler, 
Charles P. Curtis, Jr., 
Frank C. Crocker, 
Dr. Paul J. Dashiell, 
E. W. Davis, 

Charles Stewart Davison, 
Charles Deering, 

492 



Washington, D. C. 

Washington, D. C. 

New York City. 

New York City. 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

Woodstock, Vt. 

New York City. 

Buffalo, N. Y. 

Washington, D. C. 

Chicago, 111. 

New York City. 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

Washington, D. C. 

New York City. 

New York City. 

New York City. 

New York City. 

Boston, Mass. 

Hill City, S. D. 

Annapolis, Md. 

New York City. 

New York City. 

Chicago, 111. 



List of Members 



Horace K. Deveheux, 



Colorado Springs, Col. 



Walter B. Devereux 
H. Casimir De Rham, 
Dr» William K. Draper, 
J. Coleman Drayton, 
Dr. Daniel Giraud Elliot, 
Major Robert Temple Emmet, 
Maxwell Evarts, 
Robert Munro Ferguson, 
John G. Follansbee, 
James T. Gardiner, 
John Sterett Gittings, 
George H. Gould, 
Madison Grant, 
De Forest Grant, 
George Bird Grinnell, 
William Milne Grinnell, 
Arnold Hague, 
Howard Melville Hanna, 
James Hathaway Kidder, 
Dr. Walter B. James, 
C. Grant La Farge, 
Dr. Alexander Lambert, 
Col. Osmun Latrobe, 
George H. Lyman, 
Frank Lyman, 
Charles B. Macdonald, 
Henry May, 
Dr. John K. Mitchell, 
J. PiERPONT Morgan, Jr., 
J. Cheston Morris, Jr., 
Dr. Lewis Rutherford Mowus, 
493 



New York City. 
Tuxedo, N. Y. 

New York City. 

New York City. 

Chicago, 111. 

Schenectady, N. Y. 

New York City, 

New York City. 

New York City. 

New York City. 

Baltimore, Md. 

Santa Barbara, Cal. 

New York City. 

New York City. 

New York City. 

New York City. 
Washington, D. C. 

Cleveland, Ohio. 
Boston, Mass. 

New York City. 

New York City. 

New York City. 

New York City. 
Boston, Mass. 

Brooklyn, N. Y. 

New York City. 
Washington, D. C. 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

New York City. 

Springhousc, Pa. 

New York City. 



American Big Game in its Haunts 



Henry Norcross Munn, 
Lyman Nichols, 
Thomas Paton, 
Hon. Boies Penrose, 
Dr. Charles B. Penrose, 
R. A. F. Penrose, Jr., 
Col. William D. Pickett, 
Henry Clay Pierce, 
John Jay Pierrepont, 

GiFFORD PiNCHOT, 

John Hill Prentice, 
Henry S. Pritchett, 
A. Phimister Proctor, 
Percy Rivington Pyne, 
Benjamin W. Richards, 
Douglas Robinson, 
Archibald Rogers, 
Dr. John Rogers, Jr., 
Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, 
Hon. Elihu Root, 
Bronson Rumsey, 
Lawrence D. Rumsey, 
Alden Sampson, 
Hon, William Cary Sangek, 
Philip Schuyler, 
M. G. Seckendorff, 
Dr. J. L. Seward. 
Dr. a. Donaldson Smith, 
Dr. William Lord Smith, 
E. Le Roy Stewart, 
Henry L. Sttmson, 
Hon. Bellamy Storer, 

494 



New York City. 

Boston, Mass. 

New York City. 

Washington, D. C. 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

Four Bear, Wyo. 

New York City. 

Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Washington, D. C. 

New York City. 

Boston, Mass. 

New York City. 

New York City. 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

New York City. 

Hyde Park, N. Y. 

New York City. 

Washington, D. C. 

New York City. 

Buffalo, N. Y. 

Buffalo, N. Y. 

Haverford, Pa. 

Sangerfield, N. Y. 

Irvington, N. Y. 

Washington, D. C. 

Orange, N. J. 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

Boston, Mass. 

New York City. 

New York City. 

Washington, D. C. 



List of Members 

Rutherford Stuyvesant, New York City. 

Lewis S. Thompson, Red Bank, N. J. 

B. C. TiLGHMAN, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa. 
Hon. W. K. Townsend, New Haven, Conn. 

Major W. Austin Wadsworth, Geneseo, N. Y. 

Samuel D. Warren, Boston, Mass. 

James Sibley Watson, Rochester, N. Y. 

Caspar Whitney, New York City. 

Col. Roger D. Williams, Lexington, Ky. 

Frederic Winthrop, New York City. 

Robert Dudley Winthrop, New York City. 

Owen Wister, Philadelphia, Pa. 

J. Walter Wood, Jr., Short Hills, N. J. 

Associate Members. 

Hon. Truxton Beale, Washington, D. C. 

William L. Buchanan, Buffalo, N. Y. 

D. H. BuRNHAM, Chicago, 111. 
Edward North Buxton, Knighton, Essex, Eng. 
Maj. F. a. Edwards, U. S. Embassy, Rome, Italy. 

A. P. GoRDON-CuMMiNG, Washington, D. C. 

Brig.-Gen. A. W. Greely, Washington, D. C. 

Major Moses Harris, Washington, D. C. 

Hon. John F. Lacey, Washington, D. C. 

Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge, Washington, D. C. 

A. P. Low, Ottawa, Canada. 

Prof. John Bach MacMaster, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Washington, D. C. 

Hon. Francis G. Newlands, Washington, D. C. 

Prof. Henry Fairfield Osborn, New York City. 

Hon. George C. Perkins, Washington, D. C. 

Major John Pitcher, Washington, D. C. 
495 



American Big Game in its Haunts 



Hon. Redfield Proctor, 

Hon. W. Woodville Rockhill, 

John E. Roosevelt, 

Hon. Carl Schurz, 

F. C Selous, 

T. S. Van Dyke, 

Hon. G. G. Vest, 



Washington, D. C. 

Washington, D. C. 

New York City. 

New York City. 

Worpleston, Surrey, Eng. 

Los Angeles, Cal. 

Washington, D. C. 

Regular Members, Deceased. 



Albert Bierstadt, 

Hon. Benjamin H. Bristow, 

H. A. Carey, 

Col. Richard Irving Dodge, 

Col. H, C. McDowell, 

Major J. C. Merrill, 

Dr. William H. Merrill, 

James S. Norton, 

William Hallett Philups, 

N. P. Rogers, 

E. P. Rogers, 

Eluott Roosevelt, 

Dr. J. West Roosevelt, 

Dean Sage, 

Hon. Charles F. Sprague, 

Frank Thomson, 

Maj.-Gen. William D. Whipple, 

Charles E. Whitehead, 



New York City. 

New York City. 

Newport, R. I. 

Washington, D. C. 

Lexington, Ky. 

Washington, D. C. 

New York City. 

Chicago, 111. 

Washington, D. C. 

New York City. 

New York City. 

New York City. 

New York City. 

Albany, N. Y. 

Boston, Mass. 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

New York City. 



New York City. 
Honorary Members, Deceased. 

Judge John Dean Caton, Ottawa, 111. 

Francis Parkman, Boston, Mass. 

Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, New York City. 
Gen. Philip Sheridan, Washington, D. C. 

496 



List of Members 



Associate Members, 

Hon. Edward F. Beale, 
Col. John Mason Brown, 
Major Campbell Brown, 
Hon. Wade Hampton, 
Maj.-Gen. W. H. Jackson, 
Clarence King, 
Hon. Thomas B. Reed, 



Deceased. 

Washington, D. C. 
Louisville, Ky. 
Spring Hill, Ky. 
Columbia, S. C. 
Nashville, Tenn. 
New York City. 
New York City. 



497 



